Bank of East Asia's (00023.HK) chairman, David Li, Friday bought 80,000 shares in the bank at an average price of HK$29.267 each, according to a disclosure filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday.

That was the third time last week that he acquired the lender's shares. Li bought 20,000 shares in the blue-chip lender on Aug. 16 at an average price of HK$27.975 per share and he bought another 100,000 shares in the bank on Aug. 18 at an average price of HK$29.738 each.

Li now holds a 2.94% stake in the Bank of East Asia after the latest move.

Li's move came days after two major shareholders boosted their stake in the bank.

CaixaBank S.A. (CABK.MC), the largest shareholder in the blue-chip lender, bought 1.39 million shares in the bank on Aug. 12, raising its stake in Bank of East Asia to 16.03% from 15.96%. Guoco Group Ltd., controlled by Malaysian tycoon Quek Leng Chan, raised its stake in the bank to 12.04% on Aug. 10 from 11.97%.