Hanmi Financial Corp. Applies to Participate in the U.S. Treasury's Capital Purchase Program
LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hanmi Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:HAFC), the holding company of Hanmi Bank, announced that it has filed an application to participate in the U.S. Department of Treasury's TARP Capital Purchase Program (CPP). The Company has applied for an investment of $105 million, which represents 3 percent of Hanmi's total risk-weighted assets as of September 30, 2008.
"Although we remain well capitalized, we would welcome an investment under the CPP," said Jay S. Yoo, President and Chief Executive Officer. "In enhancing our capital position, it would increase our ability to provide additional financing to the small and mid-sized businesses that are so essential to the American economy."
On another matter, Yoo addressed the recent volatility in the Company's common stock. "Although it is not our standard practice to comment on movements in the price of our common stock," noted Yoo, "these extraordinary economic times call for extraordinary measures. We believe that a portion of the recent decline in the market price of Hanmi's stock is attributable to sales of shares owned by a shareholder who, facing a margin call, is being forced to sell his substantial holdings in the Company."
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 26 full-service offices in Los Angeles, Orange, San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Diego counties, and six loan production offices in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Virginia and Washington. 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.hanmifinancial.com.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This 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. 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: general economic and business conditions in those areas in which we operate; deterioration in the credit markets; availability of capital from private and government sources; demographic changes; competition for loans and deposits; fluctuations in interest rates; risks of natural disasters related to our real estate portfolio; risks associated with SBA loans; changes in governmental regulation; 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; the ability of borrowers to perform under the terms of their loans and other terms of credit agreements; our ability to successfully integrate acquisitions we may make; the availability of capital to fund the expansion of our business; approval of our application to participate in the TARP Capital Purchase Program and changes in securities markets. In addition, we set forth certain risks in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed thereafter, 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.
Source: Hanmi Financial Corporation
Released November 26, 2008