BOC Hong Kong : BOCHK named the Strongest Bank in Asia Pacific and Hong Kong by The Asian Banker for third consecutive year

28 September 2016

The Asian Banker for third consecutive year

Bank of China (Hong Kong) ("BOCHK") is named the Strongest Bank in Asia Pacific and Hong Kong 2016 by The Asian Banker. This honour has been granted to the Bank for three consecutive years in recognition of its excellent financial performance and ability to continuously increase profitability. The magazine commended, "Bank of China (Hong Kong) continued its strong balance sheet financial performance amid a challenging operating environment. It maintained its asset quality and overall profitability, and capital and liquidity positions remained strong."

The Group maintained a strong position in capital and sound asset quality, while continued to invest in enhancing its business capabilities to ensure sustainable and steady growth. The Group's 2016 interim results reached a record high since its listing. The increase in profit has substantially lifted the Group's total capital ratio to 23.30%, and Tier 1 capital ratio to 18.63%. The Group has been proactively managing its balance sheet and optimising its asset mix. Total assets remained largely flat. The Group's customer advances and deposits outperformed market growth and maintained a healthy liquidity position. While actively expanding its businesses, BOCHK has been strictly adhering to prudent risk management and credit control to ensure benign loan quality. At the same time, the Group continued to strengthen risk control, internal control and compliance management in its operations to achieve sustainable and healthy growth.

BOCHK will firmly grasp the opportunities arising from the accelerated reform and opening up of the Mainland of China. These opportunities include the demand for infrastructure-related investment and financing driven by the national Belt and Road Initiative, cross-country investment and M&A projects brought by Mainland enterprises going global, RMB's inclusion in the SDR, the introduction of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, and the removal of quota limits on Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect. BOCHK will continue to ride on its competitive edge to promote regional expansion. Meanwhile, BOCHK will continue to develop key business platforms, and initiate innovations in technology, the development of a Big Data platform and research into biometrics authentication technology, in a bid to enhance its business capabilities for sustainable development.

Since 2007, The Asian Banker has been publishing its ranking of the 500 Strongest Banks in Asia Pacific every year based on their balance sheet strength. The ranking is subject to a very detailed and transparent scorecard that assesses the commercial banks in 21 countries and regions according to six performance indicators, namely, their scale, balance sheet growth, risk profile, profitability, asset quality and liquidity. This comprehensive evaluation honours the most outstanding bank in each of the countries and regions and names the top performer among those winning banks as the Strongest Bank in Asia Pacific.

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Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited (BOCHK) is a leading listed commercial banking group in Hong Kong with strong market positions in all major businesses. It has the most extensive local branch network and diverse service platforms, including about 220 branches, efficient e-channels of over 1,000 self-service machines, as well as Internet and mobile banking services. It offers a comprehensive range of financial, investment and wealth management services to personal, corporate and institutional customers. BOCHK is one of the three note-issuing banks and the Clearing Bank for Renminbi business in Hong Kong. With its strong RMB franchise, BOCHK is the first choice for customers in this business. Through the deep collaboration with its parent bank, BOC, it provides a full range of high quality cross- border services to multinationals, cross-border customers, Mainland enterprises going global, central banks and super-sovereign organisations.

BOC Hong Kong (Holdings) Limited, BOCHK's holding company, is listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, with stock code "2388", ADR OTC Symbol "BHKLY".

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