A disposal helped boost the first-half 2017 profits of the Asian lender.

Bank of East Asia, the Hong Kong-based lender that provides services including private banking, has reported an attributable profit of HK$6.22 billion ($795 million) in the first six months of this year, surging by 196.9 per cent from a year ago, boosted by a large disposal.

The result includes a net profit of some HK$3 billion in respect of the disposal of Tricor Holdings and its subsidiaries to Trivium Investment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of global investment firm, Permira, for a total consideration of HK$6.47 billion, which BEA has recorded under profits attributable to owners of the parent from discontinued operations.

Excluding net profit from discontinued operations, the attributable profit was HK$3.171 billion,  representing an increase of HK$1.190 billion, or 60.0 per cent, compared to the first half of 2016.

Net interest income from continuing operations increased by HK$256 million, or 4.7 per cent, to HK$5,739 million. Net interest margin increased from 1.59 per cent to 1.64 per cent, and average interest bearing assets increased by 1.9 per cent.