East West Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: EWBC), parent company of East West
Bank, today announced the opening of its third Asian representative
office in Taipei, Taiwan.
"The Taipei office, together with our representative offices in Beijing
and Shanghai, and our full service branch in Hong Kong, provides a
strong international banking network to support the growing financial
needs of our customers doing business throughout the Pacific Rim,” said
Dominic Ng, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of East West.
The Taipei Representative Office will be overseen by Senior Vice
President and Chief Representative Jason Chen. Chen is a long-time
Pacific Rim banking senior manager, having worked for the past thirty
years throughout China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines
with Bank SinoPac, American Express International, Bank of America and
Citibank.
East West, through its Pacific Rim banking network, provides credit,
deposit services, cash management, foreign exchange, trade finance and
other banking services for many Asian businesses with operations in the
U.S., whose parent companies are based in Asia.
About East West
East West Bancorp [NASDAQ: EWBC] is a publicly owned company with $12.7
billion in assets. The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, East West
Bank, is FDIC insured and the second largest full service commercial
bank headquartered in Southern California with 71 branch locations. East
West Bank serves the community with 69 branch locations throughout the
counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Alameda, San Francisco,
Santa Clara, San Mateo and one branch location in Houston, Texas. East
West Bank has four international locations in Greater China, which
include a full service branch in Hong Kong and representative offices in
Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei. In addition to serving the mainstream
market, East West is also one of the largest financial institutions in
the nation serving the Chinese-American community. For more information
on East West Bancorp, visit the Company’s website at www.eastwestbank.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements, which are
included in accordance with the "safe harbor” provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and accordingly, the cautionary
statements contained in East West Bancorp’s Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008 (See Item I -- Business, and Item 7 --
Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Consolidated Financial Condition
and Results of Operations), and other filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission are incorporated herein by reference. These factors
include, but are not limited to: the effect of interest rate and
currency exchange fluctuations; competition in the financial services
market for both deposits and loans; EWBC’s ability to efficiently
incorporate acquisitions into its operations; the ability of borrowers
to perform as required under the terms of their loans; effect of
additional provisions for loan losses; effect of any goodwill
impairment, the ability of EWBC and its subsidiaries to increase its
customer base; the effect of regulatory and legislative action,
including California tax legislation and an announcement by the state’s
Franchise Tax Board regarding the taxation of Registered Investment
Companies; risks inherent in possible acquisitions and FDIC-assisted
transactions; and regional and general economic conditions. Actual
results and performance in future periods may be materially different
from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking
statements in this release. Such forward-looking statements speak only
as of the date of this release. East West expressly disclaims any
obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found
herein to reflect any changes in the Bank’s expectations of results or
any change in event.
