Wing Hang Bank Ltd. (0302.HK) Chairman Patrick Fung said Thursday Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) has no intention to sell its 20.28% stake in the local bank.

The comment comes after the Securities and Futures Commission said last month that Bank of New York, which owns the shareholding through its unit BNY International Financing Corp., had planned to sell a 10% stake to China Life Insurance Co. (LFC) and another 5% to Wing Hang's largest shareholder, the Fung family.

"Bank of New York said it has no intention to sell for the time being," Fung told reporters. "The bank is one of the lesser hit financial institutions in this crisis."

Details of Bank of New York's plan to sell down its Wing Hang stake only surfaced last month when Hong Kong's securities regulator announced its takeover and mergers panel's ruling.

The panel said the Bank of New York's planned 15% stake sale would trigger a buyout offer, as the combined stake of China Life and the Fung family would exceed 30%. The SFC statement didn't mention a price for the failed transaction.

"There are many reasons why the deal fell through," Fung said.

"Unwillingness to take (Wing Hang) private is one of them."

The small Hong Kong lender reported Thursday a 43% drop in 2008 net profit to HK$1.16 billion from HK$2.03 billion a year earlier, dragged down by large increases in loan impairment losses, mark-to-market losses on its collateralized debt obligations, and a HK$389 million loss from the disposal of bonds issued by two bankrupt Icelandic banks.

Wing Hang substantially slashed its 2008 final dividend to HK$0.10 a share from HK$2.47 the previous year.

Fung said he hopes cutting the dividend payout will help the bank raise its Tier 1 capital ratio to 9% by the end of the year, from 8.4% at the end of 2008.

-By Amy Or, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832 2335; amy.or@dowjones.com