Press Release

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- East West Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: EWBC), parent company of East West Bank, today announced the opening of its third Asian representative office in Taipei, Taiwan.

"The Taipei office, together with our representative offices in Beijing and Shanghai, and our full service branch in Hong Kong, provides a strong international banking network to support the growing financial needs of our customers doing business throughout the Pacific Rim," said Dominic Ng, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of East West.

The Taipei Representative Office will be overseen by Senior Vice President and Chief Representative Jason Chen. Chen is a long-time Pacific Rim banking senior manager, having worked for the past thirty years throughout China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines with Bank SinoPac, American Express International, Bank of America and Citibank.

East West, through its Pacific Rim banking network, provides credit, deposit services, cash management, foreign exchange, trade finance and other banking services for many Asian businesses with operations in the U.S., whose parent companies are based in Asia.

About East West

East West Bancorp [NASDAQ: EWBC] is a publicly owned company with $12.7 billion in assets. The Company's wholly owned subsidiary, East West Bank, is FDIC insured and the second largest full service commercial bank headquartered in Southern California with 71 branch locations. East West Bank serves the community with 69 branch locations throughout the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo and one branch location in Houston, Texas. East West Bank has four international locations in Greater China, which include a full service branch in Hong Kong and representative offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei. In addition to serving the mainstream market, East West is also one of the largest financial institutions in the nation serving the Chinese-American community. 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, 2008 (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; risks inherent in possible acquisitions and FDIC-assisted transactions; 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.

    Source: East West Bancorp, Inc.