Tony:
A long long time ago, the CEO of BKEAY was rumored to be one of the
candidates for Governor of Hong Kong after the Chinese takeover.
(That did not happen, but 99.99% of the rumors I hear never do happen.)
In 1995, I believe, the Hong Kong banks were required to
disclose their "hidden reserves". BKEAY did not have as much
hidden as had been thought, so the stock went down on that news.
To the best of my knowledge, and I am not an expert on HK banking
law, the banks now report completely & accurately. I don't own any
of the stock, except through some mutual funds that own it.
I thought the press release was very up front & honest in recognizing
and allocating losses for the current situation now, rather than waiting for offical defaults.
IF I were looking for a bank stock, I would use the standard approach.
Look up the book value of the bank, and see what its' premium to book
is. Compare that with the other big banks & see how it is currently
valued in relation to its' competitors.
This isn't a real glamorous or mystical approach, but banks are
not mystical. They are supposed to be solid, slow, long term growth companies. The only excitement occurs when they either get bought out,
or make loans they never should have made.
Most of the big banks in HK have their own Web site, so finding the
information should not be difficult.
Doug
|
