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East West Bancorp in Los Angeles has been hit with a nearly $39 million in damages tied to a lawsuit from a borrower.
September 9 -
BBCN Bancorp in Los Angeles has appointed two new board members.
September 15
Solid loan and deposit growth propelled East West Bancorp to double-digit profit gains in the first quarter.
The Pasadena, Calif., bank said Wednesday that it earned $100 million in the first quarter, up 35% from the same period last year. Its earnings per share of 69 cents beat a consensus of analysts' estimates polled by Bloomberg by 5 cents.
The $29.9 billion-asset company attributed the strong results to higher loan balances driven by sharp gains in consumer in commercial real estate loans. The gains helped boost net interest income, adjusted for the impact of loans inherited of failed bank acquisitions, by 11%, to $232 million.
Total deposits hit a record of $25.2 billion, up 10% from the same period a year ago. The increase in core deposits stemmed from a 10% jump in noninterest-bearing demand deposits to a record $8.1 billion.
Meanwhile, nonperforming assets fell 9%, to $120.5 million from the same period a year earlier.
The company estimated that 2015 earnings will increase 10% to 11% compared with 2014. It provided second quarter earnings guidance of between 63 to 65 cents a share and guidance for 2015 ranging from $2.64 to $2.68 a share.
