BBCN Bancorp in Los Angeles will rebrand itself as Hope Bancorp after buying Wilshire Bancorp.
The $8.1 billion-asset BBCN also plans to change the name of its banking subsidiary to Bank of Hope after the deal closes. BBCN expects to complete its acquisition of the $4.7 billion-asset Wilshire, also based in Los Angeles, in the third quarter.
BBCN, which will still be led by Chief Executive Kevin Kim, will maintain most of the top posts at Hope Bancorp, though a number of Wilshire executives will have key roles.
Kyu Kim, BBCN's chief operating officer, will serve as head of community banking. In the new role, she will add specialty lending to her existing oversight of commercial lending and retail banking. Mark Lee, BBCN's chief credit officer, will become head of corporate banking, overseeing a newly created business line.
Douglas Goddard will remain the company's chief financial officer. Alex Ko, Wilshire's CFO, will become chief financial strategist and deputy CFO.
Peter Koh, Wilshire's chief credit officer, will retain that title at Hope Bancorp.
"We are confident that this senior leadership group, together with the broader team of other chief officers, will work collaboratively together to safely lead the organization beyond the $10 billion threshold," Kim said in a Friday press release. "We are making great progress with our integration planning, and the collective board and management team is wholly committed to proactively managing the increased compliance and risk management demands and challenges, while capitalizing on the benefits of our leadership position as the only super regional Korean-American bank in the country."
