East West Bank (Chinese: ???? simplified: ???? hua mei ying hang) is a bank based in the state of California in the United States, with assets of $28.7 billion and a market capitalization of over $5.0 billion. Originally founded to serve the Chinese American community in California, it now has over 130 branch locations in the U.S and Greater China, including branches in northern and southern California, Georgia, Nevada, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Washington. In Greater China, East West's presence includes full service branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shantou and Shenzhen, and representative offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Taipei and Xiamen. It is headquartered in Pasadena, California. As of its 2009 acquisition from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation of the assets of United Commercial Bank, the resulting bank was projected to start with almost $23 billion in assets, putting it ahead of L.A.-based City National as the largest bank based in Southern California.
The current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is Dominic Ng and the President and Chief Operating Officer is Julia S. Gouw.
History
East West Bank was founded in 1973 as a savings and loan company targeting the Chinese American community in Southern California. It became a state-chartered commercial bank in 1995. The Chinese name is not a direct translation of east and west, rather it is two characters, which depend on context. ? can mean magnificent or splendid, but is often used in conjunction with other characters to refer to China and Chinese overseas. Likewise ? can mean 'pretty' or 'USA, American'.
Acquisitions
In August 2004, East West Bancorp, the parent company of East West Bank, acquired Trust Bank, a Chinese American bank that was based in Monterey Park, California and had assets valued at $235 million. All four branches of Trust Bank were rebranded to East West Bank's name and shareholders of Trust Bank received a total value of $32.9 million in East West Bank stock for the acquisition. According to East West Bankcorp's press release, the acquisition was estimated to be accretive to 2004 earnings per share by $0.02.
In March 2006, East West Bank again merged with another Chinese American bank when East West Bankcorp acquired Standard Bank, headquartered in Monterey Park, California. Standard Bank had six branch locations, all located in Los Angeles county, and had assets valued at $923 million. A total value of $200.3 million was paid in the acquisition, consisting of $70.1 million in cash and 3,547,314 shares of common stock in East West Bancorp.
In 2007, it purchased Desert Community Bank, a community bank operating in the Victor Valley region of California. Desert Community Bank branches remain branded as such and did not change to East West Bank, however DCB members have access to the East West Bank network and vice versa.
In 2009, it purchased the assets of failed United Commercial Bank, via a transaction by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This expanded East West Bank's reach with UCB's 63 U.S. branches, including 17 in Southern California and into the Chinese American communities of Houston, Boston, and Atlanta, as well as branches in Hong Kong and China.
East West Bank similarly assumed the deposits, some assets, and all four branches of Washington First International Bank in Seattle upon the latter's failure on June 11, 2010.
Naming rights
Its spokeswoman used to be figure skater Michelle Kwan. East West Bank also purchased the naming rights to the East West Ice Palace, an ice rink arena in Artesia, California. It also owns the naming rights to the East West Bank Classic, a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour.
See also
References
Interesting Informations
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