BEA’s profit down 24% to $447.87m in 2025 as China losses mount

Commercial real estate (CRE) accounted for 77% of BEA’s loan loss provisions.

Bank of East Asia (BEA) reported a profit of $447.87m (HK$3.5m) in 2025, 24% year-on-year (YoY) lower than in 2024, its financial results showed.

Operating profit before impairment losses declined 13% YoY to $1.43b (HK$11.2b) over the same period.

Attributable profit was impacted by “one-off events”, notably a $39.03m (HK$305m) loss from associates and joint ventures, mainly an associate operating in mainland China, the Hong Kong-based bank said in a press release.

Valuation losses increased to $92.52m (HK$723m), rising by HK$578m in 2025.

Impairment losses rose 2.6% YoY to $721.71m (HK$5.64b). Of this, provisions to the commercial real estate (CRE) accounted for 77% of total loan loss provisions, BEA said.

“Given the ongoing uncertainties in the CRE sectors, the group is continuing to adopt a prudent approach by proactively managing down CRE exposure,” the bank stated.

Impaired loan ratio is at 2.69% for 2025, down from 2.72% in 2022.

Basic earnings per share was HK$1.22 in 2025, from HK$1.52 a year earlier.

Return on average assets dipped 0.1 percentage points (ppt) to 0.4%, whilst return on average equity declined 0.9ppt to 3.1%.

(US$1 = HK$7.81; Morningstar via Google)