Hanmi Earns $4.2 Million and Reports Earnings per Share of $0.03 in 3Q11

Improving Credit Metrics, Higher Net Interest Margin, and Better Efficiency Contribute to Profits

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hanmi Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:HAFC), the holding company for Hanmi Bank (the "Bank"), today reported net income of $4.2 million, or $0.03 per diluted common share, for the third quarter of 2011. Hanmi's performance marks the fourth consecutive profitable quarter following the $8.0 million, or $0.05 per diluted common share, earned in the second quarter of 2011. In the first nine months of 2011, Hanmi earned $22.6 million, or $0.15 per diluted common share, compared to a loss of $93.3 million, or $1.24 per common share, in the first nine months of 2010.

"Hanmi's continuing profitability in the third quarter further demonstrates the strength of our core franchise and sustainable improvements in the overall condition of the Bank," said Jay S. Yoo, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Improvements in key asset quality measures, liquidation of problem assets, and contributions from SBA loans and investment sales highlight the third quarter profitable results."

Third Quarter of 2011 Highlights (at or for the period ended September 30, 2011)

• Substantial improvements in asset quality including a reduction in non-performing assets (NPAs), delinquent loans, and charge-offs

• NPAs declined 55.5% year-over-year to $95.8 million, or 3.57% of total assets, from $215.3 million, or 7.25% of total assets in the third quarter of 2010. NPAs decreased by $72.7 million, or 43.1%, from the immediately preceding quarter, reflecting success in selling non-performing loans and slowing migration of new nonaccrual loans.
• Delinquent loans, which are 30 to 89 days past due and still accruing, were $16.5 million, up from $15.6 million, or 5.3%, in the immediately preceding quarter, and down from $23.9 million a year ago, or 31.1%, a year ago.
• Total net charge-offs declined to $15.5 million from $16.5 million, or 6.0%, in the second quarter of 2011, and down from $21.3 million, or 27.2%, in the third quarter of 2010.

• All capital ratios improved from prior quarter and continues to be considered "well-capitalized" for regulatory purposes

• The Bank's tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio at September 30, 2011 was 10.63%, which well exceeds the 9.5% requirement set forth in the Final Order issued to the Bank by the California Department of Financial Institutions (CDFI)

• Sustainable profitability with a positive trend on efficiency and net interest margin

• Net income for the third quarter of 2011 totaled $4.2 million, or $0.03 per diluted common share, and earnings for the first nine months of 2011 was $22.6 million, or $0.15 per diluted common share.
• Net interest margin (NIM) was 3.75% in the third quarter of 2011, up 10 basis points from 3.65% in the immediately preceding quarter and up 26 basis points from 3.49% in the third quarter of 2010.
• Efficiency ratio improved to 60.6% this quarter as compared to 72.7% in the immediately preceding quarter and 75.4% in the third quarter of 2010.

Capital Management

"We are continuing to reevaluate the adequacy of our capital given the level and nature of the risks to which we are exposed. Despite volatile financial markets and economic headwinds, improving asset quality and stronger capital levels allow us time to properly evaluate options that maximize shareholder value," said Yoo. The following table shows the Bank's capital ratios:

All of the Bank's capital ratios were above the minimum regulatory standards for being considered to be "well-capitalized" for regulatory purposes. The Bank's tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio of 10.63% at September 30, 2011, well exceeds the 9.5% requirement set forth in the Final Order issued to the Bank by the CDFI.

Asset Quality

NPLs declined 42.8% to $95.5 million at September 30, 2011, down from $167.1 million at June 30, 2011, and $194.7 million at September 30, 2010. Of the NPLs, non-performers current on payments were $50.4 million, or 52.8%, compared to $85.6 million or 51.2% at June 30, 2011 and $33.4 million or 17.2% at September 30, 2010. In addition, $17.5 million, or 18.3% of the NPLs, were recorded at the lower of cost or fair value as they were classified as held for sale. Out of the NPLs, $12.5 million is guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the State of California.

The following table shows NPLs by loan category:

"NPLs declined significantly in the third quarter, as we continued to proactively sell loans and move delinquent loans through the collection process," said J.H. Son, Executive Vice President and Chief Credit Officer. "We completed $30.6 million in non-performing loan sales and a $19.2 million short sale, despite what has been a pretty soft market. We were able to accomplish this goal with small tranche sales which helped to improve overall returns."

The sale of other real estate owned (OREO) continued during the third quarter, with five properties valued at $2.2 million resulting in an $82,000 net gain. In the first nine months of 2011, Hanmi sold thirteen properties valued at $6.7 million resulting in a net loss of $599,000. OREO totaled $289,000 at September 30, 2011, down from $1.3 million at June 30, 2011, and down from $20.6 million at September 30, 2010.

"Loans that are less than 90 days delinquent increased minimally in the third quarter of 2011, reflecting more stable levels for the past two quarters," Son said. Delinquent loans, 30-89 past due and still accruing interest, which are not included in NPLs, totaled $16.5 million, or 0.81% of gross loans at September 30, 2011, a marginal increase from $15.6 million, or 0.74% of gross loans at June 30, 2011.

The following table shows delinquent loans, 30-89 past due and still accruing interest, by loan category:

The following table shows Hanmi's credit quality trends since the third quarter of 2007:

One of the factors that have contributed to the improvement of asset quality is the on-going program for NPLs. During the third quarter of 2011, Hanmi sold 26 NPLs valued at $30.6 million for net proceeds of $27.5 million. In the first nine months of 2011, it sold 66 loans with net proceeds of $73.1 million. At September 30, 2011, loans held for sale (LHFS) totaled $37.2 million, a reduction of $6.9 million, or 15.7%, from $44.1 million at June 30, 2011, and an increase of 1.60%, from $36.6 million at December 31, 2010. As illustrated in the above table, Hanmi's NPAs to total assets peaked at March 31, 2010 at 9.43% and has improved to 3.57% at September 30, 2011.

The following table presents the details of loans held for sale:

At September 30, 2011, the allowance for loan losses was $100.8 million or 4.97% of gross loans. The allowance for loan losses to loans peaked in September of 2010 at 7.35%, and has steadily declined over the past few quarters as credit metrics improved. The ratio of allowance for loan losses to non-performing loans at September 30, 2011, improved to 105.5% compared to 65.3% at June 30, 2011. Third quarter charge-offs, net of recoveries, were $15.5 million in the third quarter of 2011, compared to $16.5 million in the second quarter of 2011 and $21.3 million in the third quarter of 2010.

Hanmi established a provision for credit losses of $8.1 million for the third quarter of 2011. The provision related predominantly to additional provisions for impaired loans and an increase in the historical loss factor in the commercial line of credit pool. Of the total $8.1 million of provision for credit losses, $831,000 was allocated to cover off-balance sheet items, bringing the allowance for off-balance sheet items total to $3.2 million. Hanmi recorded a provision for credit losses of $22.0 million and $117.5 million in the third quarter and first nine months of 2010, respectively. With the improvement in overall credit metrics, provision expense was $8.1 million in the first nine months of 2011. This assessment also takes into account many factors, including net loan charge-offs, non-accrual loans, specific allowance for loan losses, risk-rating migration and changes in the portfolio composition and size.

Balance Sheet

Total assets decreased to $2.69 billion at September 30, 2011, down 0.9% from $2.71 billion at June 30, 2011, and down 9.5% from $2.97 billion at September 30, 2010.

Gross loans, net of deferred loan fees, totaled $2.03 billion at September 30, 2011, down 3.9% from $2.11 billion at June 30, 2011, and down 15.2% from $2.39 billion at September 30, 2010.  Average gross loans, net of deferred loan fees, decreased to $2.08 billion for the third quarter of 2011, down 2.8% from $2.14 billion for the second quarter of 2011, and down 15.4% from $2.46 billion for the third quarter of 2010. The slight decline in loan balance in the third quarter this year reflects continued progress in reducing the number of problem loans, partially offset by new loans originated and a lower level of charge-offs made in the quarter. 

In the third quarter of 2011, the Hanmi's total investment portfolio increased $24.7 million with $118.6 million of new purchases yielding on average 2.81% and averaging 4.9 years in duration. In addition there was $583,000 of positive fair value adjustment, partially offset by the calling of $49.8 million of bonds, the sale of $25.2 million of securities, the payment of $15.6 million in principal, and the maturation of $3.0 million of securities. The $25.2 million of securities sold had a weighted yield to maturity of 2.41% and a weighted modified duration of 4.20 years.

The average investment securities portfolio increased substantially to $394.4 million for the third quarter of 2011, up 76%, from $223.7 million for the third quarter a year ago. At September 30, 2011, the investment portfolio totaled $415.7 million, which is an increase of 6.3%, or $24.7 million, from the second quarter of 2011. "In September, the Federal Reserve announced plans to reduce long-term interest rates through the purchase of long-term bonds through its Operation Twist initiative," said Lonny Robinson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "In anticipation of a flattening yield curve, we are implementing a barbell investment strategy by purchasing a mix of high quality notes and bonds, thereby increasing returns on our investment portfolio."

Including secured off-balance sheet lines of credit, total available liquidity to Hanmi was $912 million at September 30, 2011, representing 33.9% of total assets and 38.7% of total deposits.

Average deposits declined 1.8% to $2.38 billion for the third quarter of 2011 compared to $2.43 billion for the immediately preceding quarter, and declined 6.9% from $2.56 billion for the third quarter a year ago. This year-over-year reduction in average deposits was almost entirely due to the successful strategy of reducing time deposits, particularly high-cost promotional CDs and funds raised from rate listing services. 

The improved deposit mix resulting from our new marketing campaign and renewed loan production efforts, contributed to lower interest costs. "With our new ongoing marketing campaign and proactive loan production efforts, we are continuing to rebuild our core deposit base. Core deposits, which are total deposits less time deposits equal to or greater than $100,000, now account for 64.6% of total deposits, up from, 55.4% a year ago," said Robinson. 

Total deposits decreased by 1.9% from the immediately preceding quarter and decreased 6.9% from a year ago. Both the quarterly and annual decline in total deposits was primarily due to reductions in time deposits equal to or greater than $100,000, including a $45.7 million, or 5.2% decrease for the third quarter of 2011, and $293.6 million, or 25.5% decrease year-over-year. Total deposits were $2.35 billion at September 30, 2011, compared to $2.40 billion at June 30, 2011, and $2.53 billion at September 30, 2010. There are no brokered deposits in the deposit mix at quarter-end.

Results of Operations

Net interest income, before the provision for credit losses, totaled $25.2 million for the third quarter of 2011, and $76.7 million for the first nine months of 2011, down 1.2% in the quarter and 4.0% year-over-year. Interest and dividend income was down 2.9% in the third quarter of 2011 while interest expense fell 8.8%. Year to date, interest and dividend income was down 10.7% and interest expense fell 28.6%.

The average yield on the loan portfolio improved 11 basis points to 5.60% in the third quarter of 2011 compared to 5.49% in the second quarter of 2011, and was up 16 basis points from 5.44% in the third quarter of 2010. Because interest recovery on loans that have been returned to accrual status exceeded interest reversal on loans in non-accrual status, the yield increased in the third quarter of 2011 compared to the immediately preceding quarter. The average yield on loans for the first nine months of 2011 increased 20 basis points to 5.57% from 5.37% for the first nine months of 2010.

The cost of average interest-bearing deposits in the third quarter of 2011 was down 7 basis points to 1.28% from 1.35% in the immediately preceding quarter and down 37 basis points from 1.65% in the third quarter of 2010. Year-to-date, the cost of deposits was down 39 basis points to 1.36% from 1.75% for the first nine months of 2010. As a result, NIM increased 10 basis points to 3.75% for the third quarter of 2011 compared to 3.65% for the second quarter of 2011, and was up 26 basis points from 3.49% for the third quarter of 2010. For the first nine months of 2011, NIM increased 11 basis points to 3.69% from 3.58% for the first nine months of 2010. "We have approximately $337 million in promotional CDs with a weighted average rate of 1.8% maturing over the next six months, of which $250 million will mature in March 2012. As we replace these promotional deposits with lower-cost deposits, we anticipate further margin improvement," said Robinson.

Non-interest income in the third quarter of 2011 was $5.98 million, down 0.6% from $6.02 million in the second quarter of 2011, and up 5.4% from $5.7 million in the third quarter of 2010. For the first nine months of 2011, non-interest income dropped 9.6% to $17.5 million from $19.4 million for the first nine months of 2010. The year-over-year decline in non-interest income is due to decreased service charges on deposit accounts and net loss on sales of loans, partially offset by an increase in gain on sales of investment securities. Service charges on deposit accounts decreased to $9.6 million for the first nine months of 2011 compared to $10.8 million for the first nine months of 2010, reflecting a decrease in non-sufficient funds service charges, due to better balance management by customers and regulatory reforms on these fees. For the first nine months of 2011, Hanmi recognized a $1.9 million loss from the sale of loans which consisted of $2.9 million of impairment adjustments and $569,000 of direct losses from NPL sales, partially offset by $1.6 million of gains from sales of SBA loans. For the first nine months of 2011, Hanmi posted a net gain on sales of investment securities of $1.6 million compared to a gain of $117,000 in the first nine months of 2010.

Non-interest expense in the third quarter of 2011 decreased 17.6% to $18.9 million from $22.9 million in the immediately preceding quarter and was down 21.7% from $24.1 million in the third quarter a year ago. For the first nine months of 2011, non-interest expense decreased 16.3% to $62.8 million from $75.1 million in the first nine months of 2010. The notable year-over-year improvements were primarily attributable to lower OREO expenses, FDIC deposit insurance assessments and other regulatory costs, partially offset by $2.2 million in expenses associated with the unconsummated capital raising efforts.

Consequently, efficiency ratio improved to 60.6% this quarter as compared to 72.7% in the immediately preceding quarter and 75.4% in the third quarter of 2010. The efficiency ratio for the first nine months of 2011 showed substantial improvement to 66.6% as compared to 75.6% in the first nine months of 2010.

Conference Call Information

Management will host a conference call today at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time (4:30 p.m. ET) to discuss these results. This call will also be broadcast live via the internet. Investment professionals and all current and prospective shareholders are invited to access the live call by dialing (617) 213-8857 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time, using access code HANMI. To listen to the call online, either live or archived, visit the Investor Relations page of Hanmi's website at www.hanmi.com. Shortly after the call concludes, the replay will also be available at (617) 801-6888, using access code #63388247 where it will be archived until November 11, 2011.

About Hanmi Financial Corporation

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Hanmi Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hanmi Financial Corporation, provides services to the multi-ethnic communities of California, with 27 full-service offices in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Diego counties, and a loan production office in Washington State. Hanmi Bank specializes in commercial, SBA and trade finance lending, and is a recognized community leader. Hanmi Bank's mission is to provide a full range of quality products and premier services to its customers and to maximize shareholder value. Additional information is available at www.hanmi.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are "forward –looking statements" for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including, but not limited to, statements about anticipated future operating and financial performance, financial position and liquidity, business strategies, regulatory and competitive outlook, investment and expenditure plans, capital and financing needs and availability, plans and objectives of management for future operations, developments regarding our capital plans and other similar forecasts and statements of expectation and statements of assumption underlying any of the foregoing. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statement. These factors include the following: inability to continue as a going concern; inability to raise additional capital on acceptable terms or at all; failure to maintain adequate levels of capital and liquidity to support our operations; the effect of regulatory orders we have entered into and potential future supervisory action against us or Hanmi Bank; general economic and business conditions internationally, nationally and in those areas in which we operate; volatility and deterioration in the credit and equity markets; changes in consumer spending, borrowing and savings habits; availability of capital from private and government sources; demographic changes; competition for loans and deposits and failure to attract or retain loans and deposits; fluctuations in interest rates and a decline in the level of our interest rate spread; risks of natural disasters related to our real estate portfolio; risks associated with Small Business Administration loans; failure to attract or retain key employees; changes in governmental regulation, including, but not limited to, any increase in FDIC insurance premiums; ability to receive regulatory approval for Hanmi Bank to declare dividends to Hanmi Financial; adequacy of our allowance for loan losses, credit quality and the effect of credit quality on our provision for credit losses and allowance for loan losses; changes in the financial performance and/or condition of our borrowers and the ability of our borrowers to perform under the terms of their loans and other terms of credit agreements; our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions we may make; our ability to control expenses; and changes in securities markets. In addition, we set forth certain risks in our reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including, in particular Item 1A of our Form 10K for the year ended June 30, 2011, as well as current and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission hereafter, which could cause actual results to differ from those projected. We undertake no obligation to update such forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Tangible Common Equity to Tangible Assets Ratio

Tangible common equity to tangible assets ratio is supplemental financial information determined by a method other than in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). This non-GAAP measure is used by management in the analysis of Hanmi Bank and Hanmi Financial's capital strength. Tangible equity is calculated by subtracting goodwill and other intangible assets from total stockholders' equity. Banking and financial institution regulators also exclude goodwill and other intangible assets from total stockholders' equity when assessing the capital adequacy of a financial institution. Management believes the presentation of this financial measure excluding the impact of these items provides useful supplemental information that is essential to a proper understanding of the capital strength of Hanmi Bank and Hanmi Financial. This disclosure should not be viewed as a substitution for results determined in accordance with GAAP, nor is it necessarily comparable to non-GAAP performance measures that may be presented by other companies.

The following table reconciles this non-GAAP performance measure to the GAAP performance measure for the periods indicated:

CONTACT: Hanmi Financial Corporation
         Lonny Robinson
         Chief Financial Officer
         (213)-368-3200

         David Yang
         Investor Relations Officer
         (213) 637-4798

Released October 20, 2011