Hope Bancorp Q3 2025 Earnings Report

Hope Bancorp EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.25
• Consensus EPS: $0.26
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.01
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.21

Hope Bancorp Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $142.03 million
• Expected Revenue: $138.87 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$3.16 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Hope Bancorp Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2025
• Date: 10/28/2025
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 12:30PM ET

Hope Bancorp (NASDAQ:HOPE) is a bank holding company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its principal subsidiary, Bank of Hope, provides banking and financial services to businesses, individuals and organizations, with a particular focus on small and middle-market companies and Korean American communities in the United States.

Bank of Hope offers commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, Small Business Administration loans, residential mortgage loans, consumer lending, deposit accounts and cash-management services. The bank also provides online and mobile banking, international banking services and other financial solutions for business and personal customers.

Hope Bancorp was created through the combination of BBCN Bancorp and Wilshire Bancorp, with Bank of Hope beginning operations in 2016. Through its branch network and other offices, the bank serves customers in several major U.S. markets, including California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Washington, as well as customers with ties to South Korea. The company is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Kevin S. Kim.

Hope Bancorp Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Net income of $31 million in Q3, up 28% year-over-year and a recovery from a Q2 loss; excluding notable items, Q3 net income was $32 million, up 29% sequentially.
• Positive Sentiment: Net interest income grew to $127 million (up 8% q/q, 21% y/y) and net interest margin expanded 20 bps to 2.89%, driven by higher earning asset yields and lower deposit funding costs (spot deposit rates: 2.82% total; money‑market beta ~85%).
• Positive Sentiment: Asset quality improved materially — net charge-offs fell 57% q/q to $5 million, criticized loans declined 10% q/q to $373 million, and allowance coverage remained roughly stable at 1.05% of loans.
• Neutral Sentiment: Loan growth and outlook — gross loans rose to $14.6 billion (+1.2% q/q) and management targets high single-digit loan growth for 2025 with ~10% NII growth and ~30% non‑interest income growth, but expects non‑interest expenses to increase ~15% due to the Territorial Bancorp acquisition and continued hiring.

Presentation

[Operator]

Today, and welcome to the Hope Bancorp 2025 third quarter earnings conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Maxime Olivan, Strategic Finance Manager. Please go ahead.

[Maxime Olivan, Strategic Finance Manager at Hope Bancorp]

Thank you, Bailey. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Hope Bancorp investor conference call for the third quarter of 2025. As usual, we will be using a slide presentation to accompany our discussion this morning, which is available in the presentations page of our investor relations website. Beginning on slide two, let me start with a brief statement regarding forward-looking remarks. The call today contains forward-looking projections regarding the future financial performance of the company and future events. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially. Hope Bancorp assumes no obligation to revise any forward-looking projections that may be made on today's call. In addition, some of the information referenced on this call today are non-GAAP financial measures.

[Maxime Olivan, Strategic Finance Manager at Hope Bancorp]

For a more detailed description of the risk factors and a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures, please refer to the company's filings with the SEC, as well as the safe harbor statements in our press release issued this morning. Now, we have allotted one hour for this call. Presenting from the management side today will be Kevin Kim, Hope Bancorp's Chairman, President, and CEO, and Julianna Balicka, our Chief Financial Officer. Peter Koh, our Chief Operating Officer, is also here with us as usual and will be available for the Q&A session. With that, let me turn the call over to Kevin Kim. Kevin?

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Thank you, Maxime. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Let us begin on slide three with a brief overview of the quarter. The third quarter of 2025 was a very positive one for Bank of Hope, marked by continued progress across our strategic priorities to improve profitability and reflecting solid execution across the organization. Improvement in asset quality was a key highlight, as was loan growth across all our major loan segments. Throughout the year, we have been making sustained investments in talent to support our growth, and I'm very pleased with the progress we have made so far. Before we dive into this quarter's results, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to all the bankers at Bank of Hope for their unwavering dedication and commitment to excellence.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Their hard work is the driving force behind our success, and I'm incredibly proud of what we are building together. Now, on to a discussion of our results. Net income for the third quarter of 2025 totaled $31 million, up 28% year-over-year from $24 million in the year-ago quarter and up from a net loss of $28 million in the second quarter. Second quarter results were impacted by elevated notable items related to a securities portfolio repositioning, the close of the Territorial Bancorp acquisition on April 2nd, and impact from a California state tax law change. Excluding notable items, third quarter 2025 net income of $32 million was up 29% from net income of $24.5 million in the second quarter of 2025.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

In the third quarter, we saw loan growth across all our major loan portfolio segments of C&I, commercial real estate, and residential mortgage. Our net interest margin expanded 20 basis points, which was our best linked quarter expansion since 2012. Importantly, our asset quality improved, led by our disciplined approach to credit management, which resulted in a 57% reduction in net charge-offs and noticeable improvement in classified and special mention loans, including a 17% reduction in C&I criticized loans. Moving on to slide four, all our capital ratios increased quarter-over-quarter and remain well above the requirements for well-capitalized financial institutions, providing us with a healthy cushion to support growth and navigate an evolving macroeconomic environment.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Our Board of Directors declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.14 per share, payable on November 21st to stockholders of record as of November 7th, 2025. Continuing to slide five, we continue to be focused on strengthening our deposit franchise, deepening primary banking relationships with our customers, and lowering deposit costs through ongoing optimization of our deposit mix and disciplined pricing. As of September 30th, 2025, deposits totaled $15.8 billion, reflecting a 1% decrease from $15.9 billion as of June 30th, primarily driven by a $139.5 million reduction in brokered deposits, partially offset by growth in customer deposits. Non-interest-bearing deposits totaled $3.5 billion as of September 30th, up 1% quarter-over-quarter. Moving on to slide six, at September 30th, 2025, gross loans, including held for sale, totaled $14.6 billion, up 1.2% quarter-over-quarter, equivalent to 5% annualized, with growth across all our major loan segments.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Year-over-year, production has been strengthening while maintaining disciplined underwriting and pricing standards. Loan growth this quarter also benefited from lower levels of payoffs and paydowns. Across the organization, we have been investing in talent to drive sustainable, prudent growth and enhance our corporate and commercial banking capabilities. As a bank, we are focused on driving business development and deepening client relationships to expand market presence. With that, I will ask Julianna to provide additional details on our financial performance for the third quarter. Julianna?

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. Beginning on slide seven, our net interest income totaled $127 million for the third quarter of 2025, an increase of 8% from the prior quarter and up 21% from the third quarter of 2024. This reflects loan growth, improved yields on earning assets, and lower costs of interest-bearing deposits. Overall, our net interest margin increased 20 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 2.89% for the third quarter of 2025, up from 2.69% from the prior quarter. Nine basis points of the linked quarter expansion came from higher earning asset yields. Six basis points came from lower funding costs, and five basis points came from a favorable shift in balance sheet mix. On slide eight, we present the quarterly trends in our average loan and deposit balances and our weighted average yields and costs.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

The cost of average interest-bearing deposits and the cost of average total deposits for the third quarter each declined by eight basis points from the previous quarter. The acquisition of Territorial has enhanced our deposit position, and renewal of CDs at lower rates provides a tailwind for continued cost reductions. With the September Fed funds target rate cut of 25 basis points, we realize an approximate 85% spot beta in reducing money market deposit rates. On to slide nine, where we summarize our non-interest income, I will highlight quarter-over-quarter growth in service fees on deposit accounts, international banking fees, foreign exchange, and wire transfer fees. During the third quarter, we sold $48 million of SBA loans compared with $67 million in the second quarter. Accordingly, we recognize gains on sale of $3 million for the third quarter compared with $4 million for the second quarter.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Moving on to non-interest expense on slide 10, our non-interest expense totaled $97 million in the third quarter. Excluding notable items such as merger-related costs, non-interest expense was $96 million in the third quarter compared with $92 million in the second quarter. This quarter-over-quarter increase was mainly driven by higher compensation-related costs, reflecting the company's sustained investment in talent to support growth. Importantly, revenue growth outpaced expense growth in the third quarter, generating positive operating leverage. For the third quarter of 2025, our efficiency ratio, excluding notable items, improved to 67.5% compared with 69.1% for the second quarter of 2025. Next, on to slide 11, I will review our asset quality, the improvement in which was a highlight this quarter.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Criticized loans declined $42 million, or 10% quarter-over-quarter, to $373 million at September 30th, with decreases in both special mention and classified loans, and including a 17% linked quarter decrease in C&I criticized loans. The criticized loan ratio improved to 2.56% of total loans at September 30th, down from 2.87% at June 30th. Net charge-offs totaled $5 million for the third quarter, or annualized 14 basis points of average loans, down 57% from $12 million, or 33 basis points annualized in the second quarter. The quarter-over-quarter drop in net charge-offs reflected lower charge-offs in C&I loans. The third quarter of 2025 provision for credit losses was $9 million. This compares favorably with a provision for credit losses of $15 million for the second quarter of 2025, which included $4.5 million of merger-related provision expenses that the company considered a notable item.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Excluding notable items, the quarter-over-quarter decrease in the provision for credit losses largely reflected lower net charge-offs. Finally, allowance for credit losses totaled $152.5 million at September 30th, compared with $149.5 million at June 30th. The allowance coverage ratio was 1.05% of loans receivable at September 30th, compared with 1.04% at June 30th. With that, let me turn the call back to Kevin.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Thank you, Julianna. Moving on to the outlook on slide 12, our outlook for the full year 2025 is updated as follows. We remain on track to achieve high single-digit loan growth in 2025, continuing to build on the growth momentum from the third quarter. We expect net interest income growth of approximately 10% for 2025. For 2025, we expect non-interest income growth of approximately 30%, excluding the second quarter loss on the securities repositioning, reflecting the year-to-date momentum across various business lines. We expect non-interest expenses, excluding notable items, to be up approximately 15% in 2025, reflecting the addition of Territorial's operations to our run rate and our investment in talent to enhance our production capabilities. Throughout the year, we have been adding experienced bankers to our corporate and commercial banking teams.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

In particular, in the third quarter, we hired a seasoned commercial banking team, which accelerated some of our hiring plans. A leading institution recently exited one of our core markets, and we had the opportunity to bring this group of professionals to Bank of Hope to support our continued expansion. Our hiring is driving improved revenue growth, and we expect to see sequential positive operating leverage in the fourth quarter, with an improvement to our efficiency ratio. Lastly, we anticipate the fourth quarter 2025 effective tax rate to be approximately 14%, excluding the impact of notable items. With the improvement of our financial performance and strengthening of our balance sheet in the third quarter, along with the strategic additions to our banking teams, we believe we are well-positioned to drive profitable growth and create long-term value for our stockholders. With that, operator, please open up the call for questions.

[Operator]

We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch-tone phone. If you are using a speaker phone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw the question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Our first question comes from Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

[Matthew Clark, Principal of Equity Research and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Hey, good morning, everyone. Just on the margin, do you have the spot rate on deposits? I didn't see it in the deck at the end of September. Maybe the average margin in the month of September.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

One second. On the spot rates of deposits at the end of September, it was 2.82% for total deposits and 3.62% for interest-bearing deposits. The average of deposits you see in our earnings tables is in the new table, yes?

[Matthew Clark, Principal of Equity Research and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

No, the average margin for the month of September.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Oh, the average margin for the month of September. One second. The margin for the month of September was 2.96%.

[Matthew Clark, Principal of Equity Research and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Okay. Great. Then just on Territorial, any update there on how things are progressing? You know, cost saves you may have extracted so far from that deal?

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

We are continuing to focus on stabilizing and expanding operations there. As we mentioned last quarter, following the acquisition, there's been some homework in terms of staffing up, branches and just making sure that our products are rolled out to that platform. We are continuing to incrementally see cost savings as we kind of align the operations there, but nothing headline-grabbing to report this quarter.

[Matthew Clark, Principal of Equity Research and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler]

Okay, thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Gary Tenner with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Thanks. Good morning, everybody. I wanted to ask, Julianna, if you could give us the purchase accounting impact this quarter. I think last quarter it may have been in the deck, but I didn't see it. The loan discount accretion and then kind of the net purchase accounting benefit as well?

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Last quarter was the acquisition quarter, so we had the accretion number last quarter. Last quarter, the accretion was $4 million, and this quarter, the accretion was $5 million.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

I'm sorry, how much?

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

$5 million.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

$5 million, $5 million, was the loan accretion or the net benefit overall?

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Loan accretion. The loan accretion. All other items were minimal.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

If you look in the table from last quarter, it was de minimis on each of those line items.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Yeah, they pretty much canceled out, I think, last quarter.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Yeah.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay, in terms of the CD maturities in the fourth quarter, can you give us the amount of maturing CDs and the rate that they're rolling off at?

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

One second. Let me grab that. For our CDs that are maturing in the fourth quarter, we've got $2.3 billion of maturities at an average rate of 4.08%.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay. I'm sorry, you were fanning out $2.2 billion, you said?

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

$2.3 billion.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

At a rate of 4.08%.

[Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay. All right, thank you.

[Operator]

Just a reminder, please limit yourself to two questions. Our next question comes from Kelly Motta with KBW. Please go ahead.

[Kelly Motta, Director of Equity Research at KBW]

Hey, good morning. Thanks for the question. I would like to circle back to the expense side of things. You guys mentioned in your prepared remarks that you've made a number of frontline hires that's increased the expense run rate. Can you remind us kind of where you are in the process? It seems like some of the better revenue growth is helping to offset some of these investments you're making. Two-part question, where are you adding and where do you stand in this process? Thank you.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Kelly, you know, we have been adding new team members throughout the year, and the additions will strengthen our presence in strategic segments like lower middle markets, project finance, structured finance, entertainment, etc., as well as treasury management, spread products, and so on. Our focus remains on strengthening existing capabilities, and we are, you know, somewhat optimistic about the growth prospects with the addition of all these new people.

[Kelly Motta, Director of Equity Research at KBW]

Got it. That's how we've seen.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

I would say if you think about it, in the beginning, you hire leadership and, you know, more senior positions, and then you kind of fill in more mid-level after that. We've filled in all the key leadership positions, and we've made a number of senior RM hires in the team that we reference. In the fourth quarter, we have more hiring plans. In 2026, obviously, we are in a great position to be in, to expand our organic presence and growth.

[Kelly Motta, Director of Equity Research at KBW]

Got it. That's helpful. That was a two-parter, so I'll step back. Thank you.

[Operator]

Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. Our next question comes from Tim Coffey with Janney. Please go ahead.

[Tim Coffey, Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Janney]

Yeah, thanks for it, everybody. Question, with the government shutdown, does that make it hard to predict revenues from the SBA loan sales business line?

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Yeah. First of all, outside of SBA, we do not really foresee any material impact from the recent government shutdown. As to the SBA, as you may know, the U.S. Small Business Administration has suspended acceptance of new SBA loan applications. Additionally, the secondary market for new SBA 7(a) loan sales has been halted. From our side, internally, there is no impact to the loans that have already received an SBA approval number. In the meantime, while the government shutdown continues, we will continue to proceed business as usual for new applications so that these loans are fully prepared for submission to the U.S. SBA once operations resume. Hopefully, the government shutdown ends in the near future. No matter what happens, I think we are in a good position in terms of our non-interest income in the fourth quarter and throughout 2025.

[Tim Coffey, Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Janney]

Okay. Great. Thank you. That's excellent color. The other question I had was on the non-accrual loans. You know, commercial real estate, I think, is about half of them right now. In relation to the totality of the portfolio, it's a relatively small percentage, but they are up quarter or year to date, rather. Can you kind of describe some of the challenges some of those loans are experiencing?

[Peter Koh, COO at Hope Bancorp]

Yeah, this is Peter. I think our NPLs have been relatively flat this quarter. Some of the CRE loans, and actually for all the loans in that category, sometimes it just takes time to work out. We feel good. I think there's a level of problem credits there that we are honed in on. I think it's just a matter of time before we're able to come to resolutions there.

[Tim Coffey, Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Janney]

Okay. Great. Thank you, Peter. Those are my two questions.

[Peter Koh, COO at Hope Bancorp]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Kelly Motta with KBW. Please go ahead.

[Kelly Motta, Director of Equity Research at KBW]

Hey, thanks for letting me step in. I just wanted to ask a bit broader about kind of the loan growth ahead. I think you mentioned that growth this quarter was positively benefited by lower payoffs and paydowns. Just, you know, given the potential for rates to decrease here, wondering how you guys are thinking through that impact and your ability to offset that with the pipeline ahead. Thank you. Both next quarter and beyond, if possible.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Yeah. As to our current pipeline, we have a strong pipeline going into the fourth quarter, and we expect our strong pipeline will support our loan growth outlook for the rest of the year. Our fourth quarter loan pipeline is pretty comparable to what we had at the beginning of the third quarter, and we continue to see improvements in our C&I, driven by recent frontline additions, as you said. Our CRE pipeline remains pretty stable. Although in the past we typically experienced some seasonal slowdown toward the year-end, we expect that our loan growth guideline for the entire 2025 will be a good number for us to share.

[Kelly Motta, Director of Equity Research at KBW]

Got it. Thank you. I appreciate the color around both the deposit spot rates as well as the spot rate beta on the money market, where it seems like you're being successful there. Just wondering, in terms of the competitive environment for deposits, it seems like you're having success on the money market. Can you remind us where new CDs are coming on? The beta was relatively high on the way up. How you guys are thinking about balancing beta with the outlook for a need for funding ahead. Thank you.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Yeah. We reduced our CD pricing with the last Fed funds cut, right? New CDs most recently have been coming on closer to 4% for the exceptions and below 4% for the non-exceptions. We're kind of continuing to think of deposit pricing as moving with Fed funds market pricing. With the addition of Territorial, we have been in a good position to where we can afford to be more price-sensitive, if you will. The beta was high on the way up because the balance sheet dynamics were different at that point in time. I'll remind the analyst community that on the way down, right now, our loan deposit ratio is in the low 90%, which is a much different starting point. I'll also remind the analyst community that on the way up, we had a much higher percentage of brokered deposits in our deposit mix.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Today we're sub 5%, around 5% kind of numbers that we shared with you previously. We're in a much different position today than we were on the way up. I am optimistic about our ability to have good deposit costs results.

[Kelly Motta, Director of Equity Research at KBW]

Got it. Thanks for letting me step in. Thanks.

[Julianna Balicka, CFO at Hope Bancorp]

Thank you, Kelly.

[Operator]

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to management for any closing remarks.

[Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp]

Thank you. Once again, thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again in three months. So long, everyone.

Participants

Executives

• Kevin Kim, Chairman, President, and CEO
• Julianna Balicka, CFO
• Peter Koh, COO
• Maxime Olivan, Strategic Finance Manager

Analysts

• Matthew Clark, Principal of Equity Research and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Sandler
• Gary Tenner, Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson
• Tim Coffey, Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Janney
• Kelly Motta, Director of Equity Research at KBW