LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK CITY, Sept. 22, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BBCN Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:BBCN) today announced a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") by and between its wholly owned subsidiary BBCN Bank and the city of Seoul, also known as Seoul Metropolitan Government ("SMG"). BBCN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin S. Kim and Seoul Mayor Won-soon Park signed the MOU at a press conference held today in New York City agreeing to cooperate and work together in promoting the Yeouido International Financial District ("YIFD") in Seoul as a Northeast Asian financial hub and expanding BBCN's business into Seoul.
A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=27859
"The signing of this cooperative MOU with the Mayor of Seoul is another step forward in our efforts to establish a presence in Korea," said Kevin S. Kim, President and CEO of BBCN Bank. "As the largest Korean-American bank in the United States with a national platform in five core geographic markets, we believe BBCN is well positioned to serve the financial needs of Korean national companies with operations in the U.S. We are excited about our plans to open a representative office in Seoul in the coming quarters and look forward to supporting SMG's efforts to establish this district as a leading financial hub in Asia."
The press conference was held in conjunction with the 2014 Financial Hub Seoul Conference, one of a series of events jointly hosted by SMG and Fn Hub Korea, and designed to promote Seoul as a financial hub and attract foreign financial companies. Fn Hub Korea is a unit under the Financial Supervisory Service ("FSS"), which is the regulatory body responsible for the examination and supervision of financial institutions in the Republic of Korea. In addition to Seoul Mayor Park, other high-level government officials from Seoul attended the Conference, including among others First Senior Deputy Governor of FSS Jong-ku Choi and Head of International Cooperation Young-jick Lee of the Financial Services Commission ("FSC"), the government body responsible for establishing financial policy and financial supervision in Korea.
About BBCN Bancorp, Inc.
BBCN Bancorp, Inc. is the holding company of BBCN Bank, the largest Korean-American bank in the nation with $6.9 billion in assets as of June 30, 2014. Headquartered in Los Angeles and serving a diverse mix of customers mirroring its communities, BBCN operates 49 branches in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Washington and Virginia, along with six loan production offices in Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Northern California and Annandale, Virginia. BBCN specializes in core business banking products for small and medium-sized businesses, with an emphasis in commercial real estate and business lending, SBA lending and international trade financing. BBCN Bank is a California-chartered bank and its deposits are insured by the FDIC to the extent provided by law. BBCN is an Equal Opportunity Lender.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors affecting the Company's operations, markets, products, services, pricing and expansion efforts. Readers should carefully review the risk factors and the information that could materially affect the Company's financial results and business, described in documents the Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Annual Reports on Form 10-K, and particularly the discussions of business considerations and certain factors that may affect results of operations and stock price set forth therein. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements.
The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.
