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East West Bancorp Chairman to Exercise Expiring Stock Options Under SEC Rule 10b5-1

^{Published on 2010-05-21 13:35:08 - Market Wire}
 

PASADENA, Calif.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--East West Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:EWBC), parent company of East West Bank, one of the nation's premier regional banks, today announced that Dominic Ng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, established a plan to exercise expiring stock options on a systematic basis. The plan was adopted in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Under the plan, Ng will exercise expiring stock options on up to 201,400 shares of East West Bancorp common stock. The shares are related to stock options scheduled to expire between February 24, 2011 and January 23, 2012.

Rule 10b5-1 permits the adoption of written, pre-arranged trading plans by insiders. 10b5-1 plans minimize the market effects of stock sales by spreading sales over an extended period of time rather than selling larger blocks of stock during limited trading windows. In addition, the rule avoids concerns about initiating stock transactions while an insider may be aware of material non-public information. Once a plan is established, the insider retains no discretion over sales under the plan, and the pre-planned trades will be executed through a broker at later dates without regard to any subsequent material non-public information that the insider may receive.

About East West

East West Bancorp is a publicly owned company with $20.3 billion in assets and is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "EWBC". The Company's wholly owned subsidiary, East West Bank, is one of the largest independent commercial banks headquartered in California with over 130 locations worldwide, including the U.S. markets of California, New York, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas and Washington. In Greater China, East West's presence includes a full service branch in Hong Kong and representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Taipei. Through a wholly-owned subsidiary bank, East West's presence in Greater China also includes full service branches in Shanghai and Shantou and representative offices in Beijing and Guangzhou. For more information on East West Bancorp, visit the Company's website at [ www.eastwestbank.com ].

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and accordingly, the cautionary statements contained in East West Bancorp's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2009 (See Item I -- Business, and Item 7 -- Management's Discussion and Analysis of Consolidated Financial Condition and Results of Operations), and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are incorporated herein by reference. These factors include, but are not limited to: the effect of interest rate and currency exchange fluctuations; competition in the financial services market for both deposits and loans; EWBC's ability to efficiently incorporate acquisitions into its operations; the ability of borrowers to perform as required under the terms of their loans; effect of additional provisions for loan losses; effect of any goodwill impairment, the ability of EWBC and its subsidiaries to increase its customer base; the effect of regulatory and legislative action, including California tax legislation and an announcement by the state's Franchise Tax Board regarding the taxation of Registered Investment Companies; and regional and general economic conditions. Actual results and performance in future periods may be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking statements in this release. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. East West expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found herein to reflect any changes in the Bank's expectations of results or any change in event.