Iris S. Chan and Paul H. Irving Appointed to Board of Directors of East West Bancorp and East West Bank

PASADENA, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
East West Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: EWBC), parent company of East West Bank, one of
the nation's premier regional banks, appointed Iris S. Chan and Paul H. Irving
to its Board of Directors. Ms. Chan and Mr. Irving were also appointed to the
Board of Directors of East West Bank.

"We are pleased that Ms. Chan and Mr. Irving have accepted this opportunity to
join the East West family," said Dominic Ng, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of East West. "Iris and Paul each bring to our Board a deep and diverse
understanding of the financial services industry. We look forward to their
guidance and influence as we expand our commercial banking platform to serve new
markets domestically and abroad," continued Ng.

Ms. Chan spent over 20 years with Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco and recently
retired as the Head of the National Commercial Banking Group which serves middle
market businesses across the United States. As group head, she oversaw more than
90 commercial banking and loan production offices throughout the country and was
in charge of industry specialty groups including government, education,
non-profit, healthcare, technology, and waste and environmental management.
Additionally, Ms. Chan oversaw the National Correspondent Banking Group and
Treasury Sales. She served on the Board of Directors of Wells Fargo HSBC Trade
Bank from 2003 to 2009 and was the national spokesperson for the Wells Fargo
Asian Business Service Program for more than a decade. Ms. Chan currently serves
on the Board of Directors of the Asia Society and was twice named one of the "25
Most Powerful Women in Banking" by U.S. Banker Magazine.

Mr. Irving is an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University. He previously
served as Co-Chairman, Chief Executive and Managing Partner of Manatt, Phelps &
Phillips, LLP and remains a Senior Advisor to the firm. In his 25 years with the
firm, Mr. Irving represented financial services, manufacturing, media and
entertainment and professional services clients in mergers and acquisitions,
capital markets activities, and governance and regulatory matters. He also
served on the firm's Board of Directors and as Chairman of the financial
services group, compensation committee and recruiting committee. Mr. Irving
previously served as an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, was
recognized by The Best Lawyers in America for more than ten years and was named
a California Super Lawyer by Los Angeles Magazine.

About East West

East West Bancorp is a publicly owned company with $20.6 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 more than 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.

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East West Bancorp, Inc.
Irene Oh
Chief Financial Officer
626-768-6360
or
Emily Wang
Media Relations
626-768-6266

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