For Immediate Release


THE BANK OF EAST ASIA ANNOUNCES
THE OPENING OF KAOHSIUNG BRANCH

Hong Kong, 28 August 2002 – The Bank of East Asia (BEA) strengthens its services in Taiwan with the opening today of a branch in Kaohsiung. Following the opening of its Taipei Branch in 1997, BEA’s Kaohsiung Branch is the Bank’s second branch in Taiwan and the first established by a Hong Kong bank in Kaohsiung. BEA’s Kaohsiung Branch joins the Bank’s existing network of over 130 branches and representative offices in Mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong.

Kaohsiung is a prosperous business and industrial centre in Taiwan. It is the island’s largest port, as well as a core centre for heavy industry in Taiwan. The city is surrounded by a number of renowned industrial zones. BEA’s Kaohsiung Branch is set to provide corporate and personal clients in Southern Taiwan with first-class banking services.

The major business scope of BEA’s Kaohsiung Branch includes foreign currencies and NTD deposits, loans and advances, negotiable instruments, remittances, commercial bills, documentary credits, bank guarantees, trustee services, buying and selling of foreign exchange and consumer finance, etc.

For more information, please contact Mr. Paul Wong Fook Por, General Manager of BEA’s Kaohsiung Branch, at Room 3, 12/F, WHISBIH Business Centre, 175 Jungjeng 2nd Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Tel: (886 7) 225 1357. Fax: (886 7) 225 1331. BEA Head Office Tel: 2842 3130. Fax: 2845 9747.

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For further information, please contact:

Mr. Chan Kay-cheung
Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive
The Bank of East Asia
Tel: (852) 2842 3203