Bank of China Hong Kong's net interest margin dipped 8bps

Here are the culprits.

According to Nomura, NIM was reported at 1.60% with 2H12 NIM at 1.56% or down by 8bps from 1H12. 

"Looking at the breakdown, it appears that lower yields from bond investment (lower market interest rates as well as increase in lower yielding investments in short-term debt securities) and rising deposit costs (rising RMB deposit costs amid keen market competition) were the main drivers of the lower NIM, though they were partially offset by better loan yields due to better loan pricing of corporate and residential mortgage loans," Nomura said.