UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF

THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): July 21, 2021

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (213) 382-2200

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

On July 21, 2021, Hanmi Bank (the “Bank”), the wholly-owned bank subsidiary of Hanmi Financial Corporation (the “Company”), received a Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) rating from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the “FDIC”) of “Needs to Improve” for the period March 29, 2018 to May 3, 2021.

A “Needs to Improve” rating results in restrictions on certain expansionary activities, including certain mergers and acquisitions and the establishment and relocation of bank branches.  The rating will also result in a loss of expedited processing of applications to undertake certain activities.  A “Needs to Improve” rating could have an impact on the Company’s relationships with certain states, counties, municipalities or other public agencies to the extent applicable law, regulation or policy limits, restricts or influences whether such entity may do business with a company that has a below “Satisfactory” rating.

These restrictions, among others, will remain in place at least until the Bank’s next CRA rating is publicly released by the FDIC.  

Commenting on the CRA rating, President and CEO Bonnie Lee said, “We are disappointed with this rating given Hanmi Bank’s deep commitment to the diverse communities which we serve. Hanmi Bank was founded to help underserved immigrant communities and we are proud of our strong track record of lending to, investing in, and serving low- and moderate-income communities, especially throughout the challenging pandemic period.  Hanmi Bank is committed to improving this rating and has developed a comprehensive plan to enhance our CRA effort. Hanmi Bank is committed to help our customers and our communities ‘bank on their dreams.’”

Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. 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 and strategic plans and other similar forecasts and statements of expectation and statements of assumption underlying any of the foregoing. 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 our forward-looking statements to be reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. For more information about factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations, refer to our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K that we will file hereafter. We undertake no obligation to update such forward-looking statements except as required by law.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.