Bank of Hope

Hope Bancorp, Inc. is a holding company for Bank of Hope. Bank of Hope was formed through a merger of BBCN Bank and Wilshire Bank. The bank is the largest Korean-American bank in the U.S. The company focuses the business in South Korean expatriate communities, and it offers its customers commercial banking loan and deposit products through 63 full-service branches in California, Washington, Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. The Bank also operates SBA loan production offices in Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Portland, Oregon and Annandale, Virginia; a commercial loan production office in Fremont, California; residential mortgage loan production offices in California; and a representative office in Seoul, Korea. The Company’s profit mainly comes from earning interest on loans and investment securities.

History
BBCN (Business Bank of Center and Nara) Bancorp, Inc. was a holding company for BBCN Bank. On June 5, 2000, BBCN Bancorp, Inc. was incorporated, with the initial name as Nara Bancorp, Inc. In February 2002, it became the holding company for Nara Bank effective, which is a member of national banking association opened for business in June 1989. On November 30, 2011, they completed a merger of equals transaction in which they merged with Center Financial Corporation ("Center Financial" or "Center"). The merger added 21 full-service branch offices and brought about the new names, which are currently used, ” Nara Bancorp, Inc.” was changed to "BBCN Bancorp, Inc." ‘’Center Bank’’ was changed to "BBCN Bank."

On February 15, 2013, the Company completed the acquisition of Pacific International Bancorp ("PIB"). Pacific International Bancorp was the holding company for Pacific International Bank, which was a Washington state-chartered bank having four bank locations in the Seattle metropolitan area.

In August 2013, BBCN Bancorp, Inc. acquired Foster Bankshares, Inc. With the acquisition, BBCN became the leading Korean-American Bank in Chicago.

In December 2015, BBCN Bancorp and Wilshire Bancorp announced a merger of their institutions.

In July 2016, Bank of Hope was formed through a merger of equals of BBCN Bank and Wilshire Bank. >