BANK of East Asia has denied that its unexpectedly strong profit growth was attributable to transfers from its inner reserves.
The bank yesterday issued a three-point statement in an effort to dispel intense speculation about the source of its profits.
The bank surprised the market on Tuesday by announcing a 46.8 per cent leap in 1993 earnings to $1.006 billion.
It said yesterday that not only had there been no transfers from inner reserves, but that transfers to reserves had been the largest ever.
In response to rumours that securities dealing had boosted the profits significantly, the bank said its ''profits were almost entirely due to income of a recurring nature''.
It said growth in all business areas had been responsible for the strong performance.
But the announcement left some analysts dissatisfied. One said it was possible to cut the transfer to inner reserves as a proportion of earnings while still having the biggest transfer ever.
