Profile: Center Financial Corporation (CLFC.O)

Center Financial Corporation (Center Financial), incorporated in April 19, 2000, serves as the holding company for Center Bank (the Bank). The Bank is engaged in lending activities, including the origination of commercial real estate loans, commercial loans, working capital lines, small business administration (SBA) loans, trade financing, automobile loans and other personal loans, and construction loans. The Bank provides financial services for small to medium sized business owners, primarily in Southern California. The Bank specializes in commercial loans, most of which are secured by real property, to small business customers. During the year ended December 31, 2008, the Bank had 19 full-service branch offices, 16 of which were located in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. The Bank also operates six Loan Production Offices in Seattle, Denver, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Dallas and Northern California. In March 2008, the Bank opened a branch in Diamond Bar, California. Center Financial's subsidiaries include the Bank and Center Capital Trust I.

The Bank focuses on small and medium sized Korean-American businesses, professionals and other individuals in its market area. The Bank offers bilingual services to its customers in English and Korean and has a network of automated teller machine (ATMs) located in 16 of its branch offices. The Bank also offers international banking services, such as letters of credit, acceptances and wire transfers, as well as merchant deposit services, cash management services, travelers’ checks, debit cards and safe deposit boxes. The Bank provides Internet banking services to allow its customers to access their loan and deposit accounts through the Internet. Customers can obtain transaction history and account information, transfer funds between the Bank’s accounts and process bill payments.

Lending Activities

As of December 31, 2008, the Bank’s principal lending activities included commercial loans secured by real estate, commercial loans, SBA loans, trade financing and consumer loans, which accounted for approximately 66%, 3.6%, 19.4%, 3.7%, 2.2% and 5.1% of the total loan portfolio, respectively. The Bank also participates in the SBA’s Export Working Capital Program.

Investment Activities

As of December 31, 2008, the Bank’s total investment securities amounted to $182.7 million. As of December 31, 2008, available-for-sale securities amounted to $173.8 million The Bank’s investment securities portfolio includes held-to-maturity or available-for-sale.

Sources of Funds

The Bank’s deposit products include demand deposit accounts, money market accounts, and savings accounts, time certificates of deposit and fixed maturity installment savings. As of December 31, 2008, the Bank had approximately 49,000 deposit accounts with balances totaling approximately $1.6 billion. Center Bank also borrows funds from the Federal Home Loan Bank, Treasury Tax and Loan Investment Program.