The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong public banking and financial services company headquartered in Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and one of two remaining family-run Hong Kong banks, with the other being Dah Sing Bank. It continues to be run by the 3rd and 4th generations of the Li family. It was incorporated as a publicly listed bank in Hong Kong on 14 November 1918, and officially opened for business on 4 January 1919, by a group of local Hong Kong Chinese businessmen who "not only understood modern banking, but the needs of modern Chinese business." Essentially, it aimed to serve local Hong Kong citizens and businesses who were currently underserved by the large British banks and small, unorganized, and often unincorporated local Hong Kong moneylenders. By the 1930s, BEA was considered the most influential local Hong Kong bank in the city. Wikipedia