Hope Bancorp Reports 2025 Second Quarter Financial Results

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (the "Company") (NASDAQ:HOPE), the holding company of Bank of Hope (the "Bank"), today reported unaudited financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2025.

For the three months ended June 30, 2025, the Company recorded a net loss of $27.9 million, or $(0.22) per diluted common share, which reflected the impact of a securities portfolio repositioning, the completion of the Territorial Bancorp Inc. ("Territorial") transaction, and a change to the California state tax apportionment law. Excluding notable items⁽¹⁾, net income for the second quarter of 2025 was $24.5 million, or $0.19 per diluted common share.

In comparison, for the three months ended March 31, 2025, the Company recorded net income of $21.1 million, or $0.17 per diluted common share, and net income of $22.9 million, or $0.19 per diluted common share, excluding notable items.

As previously reported, the Company completed its acquisition of Honolulu-based Territorial, the holding company of Territorial Savings Bank, effective April 2, 2025. In addition, the Company repositioned a portion of its legacy investment securities portfolio available for sale ("AFS") in June 2025. Accordingly, notable items in the 2025 second quarter totaled $52.4 million after tax, comprising the net loss on sales of securities related to the investment securities repositioning, merger-related items, and a one-time impact of a change in California's state tax apportionment law that was signed on June 27, 2025.

"The second quarter of 2025 was a milestone quarter for Hope Bancorp as we completed the acquisition of Territorial Bancorp Inc. and expanded into the strategically important market of Hawaii," said Kevin S. Kim, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Quarter-over-quarter, our net interest income grew 17% in the second quarter, our net interest margin expanded 15 basis points, and our net income, excluding notable items, increased 7%. Strengthening organic production and the addition of Territorial's residential mortgage loans contributed to strong loan growth and further diversification of our loan portfolio. With the inclusion of Territorial's lower-cost deposit base, we saw meaningful reductions in our cost of deposits.

"In addition, we sold a portion of our legacy investment securities portfolio in June 2025 as part of a strategic repositioning to help improve the Company's future earnings and profitability. This transaction will contribute approximately $12 million to our interest income on an annual basis.

"We continue to maintain strong levels of capital and ample liquidity, and we believe we are better positioned than ever to capitalize on growth opportunities as the largest regional bank catering to multicultural customers across the continental United States and Hawaii," concluded Kim.

Operating Results for the 2025 Second Quarter

Net interest income and net interest margin. Net interest income before provision for credit losses for the 2025 second quarter totaled $117.5 million, an increase of $16.7 million, or 17%, when compared with $100.8 million in the immediately preceding first quarter. Net interest margin for the 2025 second quarter expanded by 15 basis points to 2.69%, up from 2.54% for the 2025 first quarter. The increase in net interest income was primarily driven by average loan growth of 7%, which reflected the addition of Territorial and positive loan growth from the Hope legacy loan portfolio. The net interest margin expansion also reflected a 37 basis point reduction in the cost of average interest bearing deposits, which decreased to 3.77% in the 2025 second quarter, down from 4.14% in the 2025 first quarter. The cost of average total deposits was 2.96% in the 2025 second quarter, down 22 basis points from the immediately preceding first quarter. The improvement in the cost of deposits primarily reflected the impact of the Territorial acquisition and continued reduction of higher-cost deposits.

Noninterest income. For the 2025 second quarter, noninterest income totaled $(23.0) million, which included a net loss on sales of legacy securities AFS of $38.9 million, pre-tax, related to the investment securities portfolio repositioning executed in June 2025. The securities portfolio repositioning is expected to contribute approximately $12 million to the Company's interest income on an annual basis.

Excluding the net loss on sales of legacy securities AFS, which the Company considers a notable item, noninterest income⁽²⁾ for the 2025 second quarter was $15.9 million, compared with $15.7 million in the immediately preceding first quarter. Quarter-over-quarter, customer swap fee income, which is included in other income and fees, increased by $1.0 million, reflecting increased customer demand. First quarter 2025 other income included a favorable valuation mark of $1.7 million related to other non-SBA loans sold, which did not recur. The Company recorded net gains on the sale of SBA loans of $4.0 million in the 2025 second quarter, compared with $3.1 million in the preceding first quarter. In the second quarter of 2025, the Company sold $67.4 million of SBA loans, compared with $49.9 million in the immediately preceding first quarter.

Noninterest expense. Noninterest expense for the 2025 second quarter totaled $109.5 million. Excluding notable items, which consisted primarily of merger-related expenses, noninterest expense⁽²⁾ for the 2025 second quarter was $92.2 million. This compares with noninterest expense of $83.9 million, or $81.3 million excluding notable items, in the immediately preceding first quarter. The quarter-over-quarter increase in noninterest expense primarily reflected the addition of the Territorial franchise to ongoing operations. The efficiency ratio, excluding notable items⁽²⁾, improved quarter-over-quarter to 69.1% for the 2025 second quarter, compared with 69.8% for the 2025 first quarter.

Income tax provision (benefit) and tax rate. For the 2025 second quarter, the Company recognized an income tax benefit of $(2.0) million, reflecting the reported GAAP net loss in the quarter, compared with a provision for income tax of $6.7 million for the 2025 first quarter. During the second quarter of 2025, income tax expense was negatively impacted by a deferred tax asset remeasurement of $4.9 million resulting from a change in California's state tax apportionment law that was signed on June 27, 2025, and which became effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. This change in the tax law will serve to lower the Company's ongoing effective tax rate by approximately 1%. The $4.9 million discrete item is included in the GAAP reconciliation tables on Table Pages 10 to 12 as a notable, non-recurring expense in the quarter. For the second quarter of 2025, the reported GAAP effective tax rate was 6.7%, or 20.1% excluding notable items⁽²⁾, compared with an effective tax rate of 24.2% in the first quarter of 2025.

Balance Sheet Summary

Cash and investment securities. At June 30, 2025, cash and due from banks totaled $689.7 million, compared with $733.5 million at March 31, 2025. As of the close of the acquisition of Territorial, Territorial had $86.7 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Investment securities totaled $2.27 billion at June 30, 2025, and $2.09 billion at March 31, 2025. The investment securities portfolio acquired from Territorial was sold on April 2, 2025, at the close of the acquisition, at a market value of $535.2 million, with no gain or loss impact to the Company. The excess cash from the Territorial securities sale was redeployed into investment securities throughout the quarter, contributing to the quarter-over-quarter growth in investment securities AFS.

As previously announced, the Company sold a portion of its legacy investment securities portfolio AFS in June 2025 as part of a strategic repositioning. The Company sold investment securities AFS with a fair value of $417.9 million and an aggregate weighted average book yield of 2.33%, consisting of lower-yielding mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations, municipal securities, and corporate bonds. Net proceeds from the sale of the legacy investment securities AFS were redeployed to purchase higher-yielding agency securities, mortgage-backed securities, and collateralized loan obligations, with an aggregate average current market yield of 5.42%.

Loans. At June 30, 2025, loans receivable, which excludes loans held for sale, totaled $14.43 billion, an increase of 8% from $13.34 billion at March 31, 2025. As of the close of the acquisition of Territorial, Territorial's loans receivable totaled $1.07 billion after acquisition accounting discounts. Together with strong sequential growth in Hope's legacy residential mortgage portfolio, residential mortgage loans increased 96% from March 31, 2025. As a result, residential mortgage and other loans grew to represent 16% of the Company's loan mix at June 30, 2025, compared with 9% at March 31, 2025.

The following table sets forth the loan portfolio composition at June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025, and June 30, 2024:

Deposits. Total deposits of $15.94 billion at June 30, 2025, increased 10% quarter-over-quarter from $14.49 billion at March 31, 2025, reflecting the impact of the Territorial acquisition. As of the close of the acquisition of Territorial, Territorial's deposits totaled $1.67 billion after acquisition accounting adjustments, with a weighted average cost of deposits of 1.98%. During the 2025 second quarter, the Company continued to reduce its brokered deposit balances, which decreased $183.2 million, down 19% quarter-over-quarter. As of June 30, 2025, brokered deposits totaled $797.1 million, representing 5% of total deposits, which compares favorably with 7% as of March 31, 2025, and 9% as of June 30, 2024.

The following table sets forth the deposit composition at June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025, and June 30, 2024:

Borrowings. Federal Home Loan Bank and Federal Reserve Bank borrowings decreased to $29.8 million at June 30, 2025, from $100.0 million at March 31, 2025, largely reflecting the payoff of borrowings that matured during the quarter. As of the close of the acquisition of Territorial, Territorial's Federal Home Loan Bank borrowings totaled $160.8 million, of which $126.2 million was paid off effective April 2, 2025.

Credit Quality and Allowance for Credit Losses

Criticized loans. Criticized loans decreased $34.0 million, or 8%, to $414.7 million at June 30, 2025, down from $448.7 million at March 31, 2025. This includes a 26% decrease in special mention loans, which were down by $47.3 million quarter-over-quarter. The criticized loans to total loans ratio improved to 2.87% at June 30, 2025, down from 3.36% at March 31, 2025.

Nonperforming assets. Nonperforming assets were $112.9 million, or 0.61% of total assets, at June 30, 2025, compared with $83.9 million, or 0.49% of total assets, at March 31, 2025. The quarter-over-quarter change was largely driven by the migration of one commercial real estate loan that is well secured by collateral property in a prime location. As of the close of the acquisition of Territorial, Territorial's nonperforming assets amounted to $1.3 million, after acquisition accounting adjustments.

The following table sets forth the components of nonperforming assets at June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025, and June 30, 2024:

Net charge offs. The Company recorded net charge offs of $12.0 million in the 2025 second quarter, equivalent to 0.33%, annualized, of average loans. This compares with net charge offs of $8.3 million, or 0.25%, annualized, of average loans in the immediately preceding first quarter.

Allowance for credit losses. The allowance for credit losses totaled $149.5 million at June 30, 2025, compared with $147.4 million at March 31, 2025. The allowance coverage ratio was 1.04% of loans receivable at June 30, 2025, compared with 1.11% at March 31, 2025. The change in the allowance coverage ratio largely reflects the impact of the Territorial acquisition, which added $1.07 billion of loans with pristine asset quality.

The following table sets forth the allowance for credit losses and the coverage ratios at June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025, and June 30, 2024:

Provision for credit losses. For the 2025 second quarter, the Company recorded a provision for credit losses of $15.0 million. This included $4.5 million of merger-related provision expenses that the Company considered a notable item, and which comprised $3.9 million of Day 1 provision for Territorial loans at acquisition close and a $0.6 million net write-off related to the exit of Bank of Hope's legacy credit card portfolio. With the acquisition of Territorial, the Company adopted Territorial's white-label credit card program.

Excluding notable items⁽³⁾, the provision for credit losses for the 2025 second quarter was $10.5 million, which included $1.0 million of provision for unfunded loan commitments. This compares with a provision for credit losses of $4.8 million for the 2025 first quarter, which included a $0.4 million release of reserves for unfunded loan commitments. The quarter-over-quarter increase in the provision for credit losses, excluding notable items, largely reflected net charge offs in the 2025 second quarter, as well as a quarter-over-quarter increase in the allowance for unfunded loan commitments.

Capital

At June 30, 2025, the Company and the Bank's strong capital ratios continued to exceed all regulatory capital requirements generally required to meet the definition of a "well-capitalized" financial institution. The quarter-over-quarter change in capital ratios primarily reflected the impact of the Territorial acquisition.

The following table sets forth the capital ratios for the Company at June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025, and June 30, 2024:

At June 30, 2025, total stockholders' equity was $2.22 billion, an increase of 3% when compared with $2.16 billion at March 31, 2025. Tangible common equity ("TCE") per share⁽⁴⁾ was $13.26 at June 30, 2025, compared with $13.99 at March 31, 2025. The TCE ratio was 9.43% at June 30, 2025, compared with 10.20% at March 31, 2025.

The following table sets forth the TCE per share and the TCE ratio at June 30, 2025, March 31, 2025, and June 30, 2024. The quarter-over-quarter changes between June 30, 2025, and March 31, 2025, primarily reflected the impact of the Territorial acquisition.

Pursuant to the Territorial merger agreement, on April 2, 2025, Territorial shareholders received 0.8048 shares of Hope Bancorp common stock in exchange for each share of Territorial common stock; accordingly, the Company issued 6,976,754 shares, or $73.3 million of equity, as part of the transaction.

Investor Conference Call

The Company previously announced that it will host an investor conference call on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time / 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time to review unaudited financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2025. Investors and analysts are invited to access the conference call by dialing 866-235-9917 (domestic) or 412-902-4103 (international) and asking for the "Hope Bancorp Call." A presentation to accompany the earnings call will be available at the Investor Relations section of Hope Bancorp's website at www.ir-hopebancorp.com. Other interested parties are invited to listen to a live webcast of the call available at the Investor Relations section of Hope Bancorp's website. After the live webcast, a replay will remain available at the Investor Relations section of Hope Bancorp's website for at least one year. A telephonic replay of the call will be available at 877-344-7529 (domestic) or 412-317-0088 (international) for one week through July 29, 2025, replay access code 5724457.

Non-GAAP Financial Metrics

This news release and accompanying financial tables contain certain non-GAAP financial measure disclosures, including net income excluding notable items, earnings per share excluding notable items, noninterest income excluding notable items, noninterest expense excluding notable items, provision for credit losses excluding notable items, efficiency ratio excluding notable items, effective tax rate excluding notable items, PPNR, PPNR excluding notable items, ROA excluding notable items, ROE excluding notable items, ROTCE, ROTCE excluding notable items, TCE per share and TCE ratio. Management believes these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company's operational performance and the Company's capital levels and has included these figures in response to market participant interest in these financial metrics. Quantitative reconciliations of the most directly comparable GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures are provided in the accompanying financial information on Table Pages 10 through 12.

About Hope Bancorp, Inc.

Hope Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOPE) is the holding company of Bank of Hope, the only regional Korean American bank in the United States, with $18.55 billion in total assets as of June 30, 2025. With the addition of Territorial Savings, a division of Bank of Hope, effective April 2, 2025, the Company became the largest regional bank catering to multicultural customers across the continental United States and Hawaii. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Bank provides a full suite of commercial, corporate and consumer loans, deposit and fee-based products and services, including commercial and commercial real estate lending, SBA lending, residential mortgage and other consumer lending; treasury management services, foreign currency exchange solutions, interest rate derivative products, and international trade financing, among others. The Bank operates 46 full-service branches in California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Texas, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Alabama and Georgia under the Bank of Hope banner, and 29 branches in Hawaii under the Territorial Savings banner. The Bank also operates SBA loan production offices, commercial loan production offices, and residential mortgage loan production offices throughout the United States, and a representative office in Seoul, South Korea. Bank of Hope is a California-chartered bank, and its deposits are insured by the FDIC to the extent provided by law. Bank of Hope is an Equal Opportunity Lender. For additional information, please go to www.bankofhope.com for Bank of Hope and www.tsbhawaii.bank for Territorial Savings, a division of Bank of Hope. By including the foregoing website address links, the Company does not intend to and shall not be deemed to incorporate by reference any material contained or accessible therein.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "will," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "estimates" and similar expressions. With respect to any such forward-looking statements, Hope Bancorp claims the protection provided for in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties. Hope Bancorp's actual results, performance or achievements may differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. With the consummation of the acquisition of Territorial Bancorp, factors that may cause actual outcomes to differ from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements include, among things: difficulties and delays in integrating Hope Bancorp and Territorial Bancorp and achieving anticipated synergies, cost savings and other benefits from the transaction; higher than anticipated transaction costs; and deposit attrition, operating costs, customer loss and business disruption following the acquisition, including difficulties in maintaining relationships with employees and customers, may be greater than expected. Other risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: possible renewed deterioration in economic conditions in Hope Bancorp's areas of operation or elsewhere; interest rate risk associated with volatile interest rates and related asset-liability matching risk; liquidity risks; risk of significant non-earning assets, and net credit losses that could occur, particularly in times of weak economic conditions or times of rising interest rates; the failure of or changes to assumptions and estimates underlying Hope Bancorp's allowances for credit losses; potential increases in deposit insurance assessments and regulatory risks associated with current and future regulations; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Hope Bancorp; the impact of U.S. and global trade policies and tensions, including changes in, or the imposition of, tariffs and/or trade barriers and the economic impacts, volatility and uncertainty resulting therefrom, and geopolitical instability; and risks from natural disasters. For additional information concerning these and other risk factors, see Hope Bancorp's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Hope Bancorp does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of events or circumstances after the date of such statements except as required by law.