bohk was established on october 1, 2001 from a merger of 12 smaller and associate banks in hong kong, including the bank of communications, china &amp; south sea bank, china state bank limited, hua chiao commercial bank, kincheng banking corporation, kwangtung provincial ban, national commercial bank limited, national industrial bank of china, sin hua bank limited, wo sang bank, yien yieh commercial bank, and young brothers banking corporation, and listed on the hong kong stock exchange in october 2002. as of the end of 2016, the bank had hk$2,327 billion in assets and operating profit of hk$29 billion. its head office is in the bank of hong kong tower in central, hong kong. the head office, completed in 1988, and was the first building outside of north america to be more than 1,000 feet (300 m) high.