Hope Bancorp Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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July 27, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Second-quarter earnings improved significantly: diluted EPS excluding notable items rose 17% sequentially to $0.27 and 40% year over year, supported by 5% revenue growth, a six-basis-point net interest margin expansion, and positive operating leverage.
  • Positive Sentiment: Loans grew 2% quarter over quarter to $15 billion, led by commercial and industrial lending, while deposits increased 1% to $15.9 billion. Non-interest-bearing deposits rose 5%, helping improve the deposit mix and reduce funding costs.
  • Positive Sentiment: Credit trends remained stable to improved, with criticized loans down 19% year over year, non-performing assets at 0.59% of total assets, and annualized net charge-offs declining to 24 basis points from 29 basis points in the prior quarter.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management maintained its 2026 outlook, including approximately 20% end-of-period loan growth, 15%–20% revenue growth, and 25%–30% pre-provision net revenue growth, including a projected quarter of contribution from MANUBANK.
  • Neutral Sentiment: The pending all-cash acquisition of SMBC MANUBANK’s commercial banking unit remains on track to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approval; it is expected to add approximately $2.3 billion of loans and $2.6 billion of deposits.
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Earnings Conference Call
Hope Bancorp Q2 2026
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections

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Operator

Good day, and welcome to the Hope Bancorp 2026 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing star then zero on your telephone keypad. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. 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, Investor Relations Manager. Please go ahead.

Maxime Olivan
Maxime Olivan
SVP and Investor Relations Manager at Hope Bancorp

Thank you, Drew. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Hope Bancorp Investor Conference Call for the Second Quarter of 2026. As usual, we will be using a slide presentation to accompany our discussion this morning, which is available on 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 during this call today includes non-GAAP financial measures.

Maxime Olivan
Maxime Olivan
SVP and Investor Relations Manager at Hope Bancorp

For a more detailed description of the risk factors and the 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 earnings press release. Presenting from management today will be Kevin Kim, Hope Bancorp Chairman, President, and CEO, and Julianna Balicka, Hope Bancorp Chief Financial Officer. Peter Koh, Bank of Hope President and 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
Kevin Kim
Chairman, President, and CEO at Hope Bancorp

Thank you, Maxime. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Beginning with slide three, you will find a brief overview of our results. Overall, we delivered a strong second quarter and made solid progress during the first half of the year in executing against our key operating priorities. Second quarter 2026 revenue of $148 million drove reported diluted earnings per share of $0.26, up 12% quarter-over-quarter, or diluted earnings per share excluding notable items of $0.27, up 17% sequentially from $0.23 in the first quarter of 2026. Year-over-year, earnings per share excluding notable items were up 40% from $0.19 in the year ago quarter. On a sequential quarter basis, the strong earnings growth was driven by revenue growth of 5%, net interest margin expansion of 6 basis points, and positive operating leverage.

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

All our profitability ratios improved while loans and deposits grew. Pre-provision net revenue for the 2026 second quarter totaled $49 million, up 6% sequentially from $47 million in the first quarter of 2026. Excluding notable items, which were primarily merger related, second quarter 2026 pre-provision net revenue was $51 million, up 10% from the prior quarter and up 25% year-over-year. Gross loans increased 2% or 8% annualized to $15 billion as of June 30, 2026, and deposits increased 1% or 4% annualized to $15.9 billion. Our deposit mix continued to improve with growth in non-maturity deposits more than offsetting a planned decline in time deposits to continue lowering our cost of funds. Moving on to slide four. At June 30, 2026, our common equity Tier 1 ratio was 12.27%, and our total capital ratio was 13.95%.

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

Our capital position is strong and enables us to support organic growth, complete the pending acquisition of the commercial banking unit of SMBC MANUBANK, and return capital to stockholders. Year to date in 2026, the company returned $45 million of capital to stockholders through cash dividends and common stock repurchases. Year to date in 2026, the company repurchased approximately 773,000 shares of common stock at an average price of $11.25 per share for a total of $9 million pursuant to its existing $50 million share repurchase authorization. At June 30, 2026, $27 million remained available under the authorization, providing flexibility for future capital management. Our board of directors declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.14 per share payable on or around August 20, 2026 to stockholders of record as of August 6, 2026.

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

On March 31st, 2026, we announced our pending acquisition of the commercial banking unit of SMBC MANUBANK. We expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. This transaction aligns with our priorities to expand our middle market and multinational banking capabilities, develop specialty deposit verticals, broaden our presence in our core Southern California market, and enhance our balance sheet with quality loans and attractive deposits. Based on June 30, 2026, balances and before failed value marks, this all-cash transaction is anticipated to add approximately $2.3 billion in loans and $2.6 billion in deposits and result in net cash flowing to Bank of Hope. We expect the transaction to enhance our core earnings and returns on tangible equity and to support efficient capital management.

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

Alongside the MANUBANK acquisition, we will enter into a collaboration and partnership agreement with SMBC to support the local banking needs of their commercial and retail Japanese customers seeking to do business in the U.S. Our partnership with SMBC will broaden our multinational client reach and contribute to differentiated long-term growth. Continuing to slide five. Second quarter 2026 loan growth was led by commercial and industrial lending, with additional contributions from commercial real estate and residential mortgage. Overall, loan growth is strengthening. At June 30, 2026, gross loans totaled $15 billion, up 2% quarter-over-quarter, equivalent to 8% annualized and up 4% year-over-year. On the deposit side, deposits totaled $15.9 billion at June 30, 2026, up 1% quarter-over-quarter or 4% annualized. Non-interest-bearing demand deposits increased 5% from the prior quarter and time deposits declined 1%.

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

Compared with the year-ago quarter, non-interest-bearing demand deposits increased 2%, while time deposits decreased 2%. Decreases in time deposits have been planned to help improve our deposit mix and lower our funding costs. In addition, we are benefiting from the addition of Territorial Savings, which operate in Hawaii, a market with lower deposit costs. Year to date, our customer retail deposits in Hawaii have grown 6%. With that, I will turn the call over to Julianna to review our financial performance for the second quarter in more detail. Julianna?

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Thank you, Kevin. Good morning, everyone. Beginning on slide six, our net interest income totaled $129 million for the second quarter of 2026, up $5 million or 4% from the first quarter of 2026 and up $12 million or 10% from the second quarter of 2025. Second quarter 2026 average loans of $14.8 billion grew 1% quarter-over-quarter and 3% year-over-year, and our net interest margin expanded. Second quarter 2026 net interest margin was 2.96%, up 6 basis points from 2.90% in the prior quarter and up 27 basis points from 2.69% in the year-ago quarter. The sequential quarter net interest margin expansion was primarily driven by higher loan yields and a lower cost of funds. On slide seven, we provide more detail on balance trends, yields, and rates for our average loans and deposits. On to slide eight.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

For the second quarter of 2026, non-interest income totaled $19 million, up 11% from the prior quarter and up 19% from the year-ago quarter, excluding notable items. The quarter-over-quarter increase in non-interest income was primarily due to growth in net gains on sales of SBA loans, growth in customer-related income and fees, and higher net gains on sales of available for sale securities. During the second quarter, we sold $68 million of SBA loans for a net gain on sale of $4 million, compared with sales of $53 million in the first quarter for a net gain on sale of $3 million. This reflects both higher sale volume and higher sale premiums in the second quarter. Customer-related income and fees, including deposit service fees, grew 6% quarter-over-quarter and 18% year-over-year, reflecting higher customer activity across a number of fee income lines of business.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Moving on to non-interest expense on slide nine. Non-interest expense totaled $98 million in the second quarter of 2026, up from $94 million in the first quarter. Excluding merger-related costs, non-interest expense totaled $96 million, up 2% from the prior quarter and up 5% year-over-year, reflecting continued prudent expense management across all areas of operating expenses. 2026 second quarter revenue growth exceeded operating expense growth, resulting in positive operating leverage and improving our efficiency. Accordingly, our efficiency ratio, excluding notable items, improved to 65.2%, down from 66.9% in the prior quarter and down from 69.1% in the year-ago quarter. Next on to slide 10. I will review our asset quality, which remained broadly stable during the quarter and compared favorably with the year-ago period. Our priority is early identification and problem loan resolution.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Our credit trends remain healthy. Criticized loans improved meaningfully from the year ago period. Criticized loans totaled $334 million on June 30th, 2026, up $9 million from March 31st, 2026, and meaningfully down by $80 million or 19% from June 30th, 2025. The criticized loan ratio was 2.24% of loans receivable at June 30th, 2026, improving 63 basis points from 2.87% a year ago. Non-performing assets were $113 million or 59 basis points of total assets at June 30th, 2026, compared with 65 basis points at March 31st, 2026 and 61 basis points at June 30th, 2025. Second quarter 2026 net charge-offs were $9 million or annualized 24 basis points of average loans, down from $11 million or annualized 29 basis points in the prior quarter and down from annualized 33 basis points in the year ago quarter.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Accordingly, the provision for credit losses was $7 million in the 2026 second quarter, compared with $9 million in the first quarter. At June 30th, 2026, the allowance for credit losses totaled $153 million, with a coverage ratio of 1.03% of loans receivable. With that, let me turn the call back to Kevin.

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

Thank you, Julianna. Moving on to the outlook on slide 11. As we enter the second half of 2026, we believe Hope is well-positioned to build on the progress made during the first half of the year. Our full year 2026 management outlook is essentially unchanged. We continue to expect end-of-period loan growth of approximately 20%, including MANUBANK loan balances. We continue to expect revenue growth in the range of 15%-20% and pre-provision net revenue growth in the range of 25%-30%, both excluding notable items and including the impact of MANUBANK's operations for the fourth quarter. Our priorities remain consistent. Prudent balance sheet growth, operating expense discipline, and active credit oversight, all in support of sustainable and profitable earnings growth and effective capital management across a range of operating environments.

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

Our loan pipelines are active, and we are pursuing opportunities that meet our pricing, structure, and credit standards. On deposits, we continue to improve mix and manage funding costs in support of profitable growth. On expenses, we are balancing prudent expense control with targeted investments in technology, talent, risk management, and commercial banking capabilities. Finally, the pending MANUBANK transaction is closely aligned with our commercial banking strategy and long-term earnings objective. 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 telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please limit yourself to two questions. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question comes from Matthew Clark with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

Matthew Clark
Matthew Clark
Managing Director at Piper Sandler

Hey, good morning, everyone. To start out on the margin, Julianna, if you had the spot rate on deposits at the end of June, the margin in the month of June, then just thoughts around deposit costs in general from here.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

The spot rate on deposits at the end of June was 2.58%, and on Interest-Bearing deposits, it was 3.32%. As we look forward in terms of our net interest margin for the rest of the year, we should have a few basis points increase each quarter, but it will be not as great as the first quarter to second quarter, but we are still looking for continuous margin expansion. The net interest margin in June was 2.98%. As you recall from prior conversations, we continue to benefit from the repricing of our CD portfolio, which helps to bolster margin expansion.

Matthew Clark
Matthew Clark
Managing Director at Piper Sandler

Just thoughts on deposit pricing in general from here and costs.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

We're working very hard to continue to improve it by improving our deposit mix. It's competitive out there.

Matthew Clark
Matthew Clark
Managing Director at Piper Sandler

Yep, fair enough. Just on the SBA gain on sale, looked a lot stronger this quarter. Just any commentary on the outlook there? Should we expect a reset maybe a little lower from here? Are you going to try to keep that pace?

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

Yeah. The premiums in the secondary market remain healthy. The current premium range from mid to low eights. We will continue our balance between gain on sales economics with portfolio retention decisions. Although we will be flexible, our current outlook for 2026 will be around $16 million-$17 million of SBA gains on sale.

Matthew Clark
Matthew Clark
Managing Director at Piper Sandler

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from Gary Tenner with D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.

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

Thank you. Good morning. Just a follow-up question on time deposits. Kevin, I think you kind of talked about really working to lower those further as a percentage of the overall portfolio. Can you give us a sense of what that looks like? Is there a target you're trying to get to or maybe what your longer-term mix preferences would be?

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Hi, Gary. This is Julianna. Longer term, we would like to continue to reduce our reliance on or the mix of CDs in our overall deposit book. It takes time to move the mix, even 1 percentage point, as you well know. Our core customer base, CDs is a preferred product for our core customer base. Over time, we're continuing to diversify the franchise with the acquisition of Territorial Bancorp last year, the pending acquisition of MANUBANK, which will bring different sources of deposits to the mix, and that will overall help us lower the percentage of CDs in the total book. As far as stating a particular target, just the reality is this will take time to reduce closer to industry norms.

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

Yep. Makes sense. You also flagged pretty good success year to date on growing deposits in the Hawaii franchise. Can you talk about the relative pricing of what you're seeing from that part of the franchise versus mainland deposits?

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Lower than mainland.

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

Okay. All right. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from Kelly Motta with KBW. Please go ahead.

Kelly Motta
Kelly Motta
Director of Equity Research at KBW

Good morning. Thanks for the questions. On the pending MANUBANK transaction, do you have any updated insight in terms of timing close? I believe you're still waiting for regulatory approvals, but any help there, as well as what the assumption in your guide would be helpful for modeling purposes. Thank you.

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

Kelly, we still expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2026. I think our timeline is right on track. It ultimately depends upon the actual timing of the approvals. I think we are feeling pretty comfortable about the second half closing of this transaction.

Kelly Motta
Kelly Motta
Director of Equity Research at KBW

Great. Julianna, because I believe your guide includes some contribution from MANUBANK. Is that about a quarter?

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Yes. For modeling purposes, as you can see from Kevin's remarks on our outlook slide, we're assuming a quarter's worth of contribution from MANUBANK operations. That's just merely taking the midpoint of second half into a model. As Kevin clearly stated, the timing is dependent on approvals and other factors rather than just a clean midpoint.

Kelly Motta
Kelly Motta
Director of Equity Research at KBW

Yep. Understood. Totally. That's helpful. Then in terms of the, I know we hit on it ad nauseam, the deposit competitive landscape, obviously MANUBANK helps quite a bit with that. I'm wondering what the cost of new money is coming in at this stage. It seems rather competitive.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

The cost of new money is ranging between 350 and 380 on the incremental Interest-Bearing deposits, depending on sub-markets, sub-products. I would say a range is time deposits on the higher end of that range, money markets on the lower end of that range, and low-cost Interest-Bearing deposits even lower than that range. The incremental competitive deposit, I would say is somewhere between 350 and 380, if that helps.

Kelly Motta
Kelly Motta
Director of Equity Research at KBW

That's really helpful. Closing the loop on deposits, you guys had some really nice non-interest-bearing growth this quarter. I'm wondering, it looks like it's above the averages. If you could provide any color in terms of the drivers of that, and if there was any sort of shorter-term fluctuations that we should be mindful of when thinking through the outlook ahead.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

One driver I can point you to, or not driver, one item that I can highlight in DDA growth this quarter, I would say is we saw an inflow of tariff refund money into a number of our commercial and small business customers. That helped with deposit growth this quarter.

Operator

Thank you. The next question comes from Tim Coffey with Brean Capital. Please go ahead.

Tim Coffey
Tim Coffey
Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Brean Capital

Thank you. Morning, everybody. I have some questions about the loan origination activity in the quarter and how that might have compared to the first quarter.

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

Our loan production was pretty robust in the second quarter, and our pipeline coming into the third quarter is also pretty solid. We expect a robust loan origination again in the third quarter. What I want to point out is that we are continuing our efforts to prioritize the relationship economics structure and credit quality over headline growth.

Tim Coffey
Tim Coffey
Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Brean Capital

Right. Okay. That's helpful. What were new loan yields in the quarter?

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

The new loan yields this quarter, they ranged from about 6% on commercial real estate, a little above 6% on commercial real estate, to close to 8% on SBA. There was a full gamut of new loan yield range.

Tim Coffey
Tim Coffey
Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Brean Capital

Okay. All pretty much higher than the average yield for the quarter.

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

Around about 6% a quarter if you wanted to average it out.

Tim Coffey
Tim Coffey
Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Brean Capital

Okay. That's great, Julianna. Thanks. On buybacks, does the company have a 10b5-1 or some other tools to continue to repurchase shares through the close of the transaction?

Julianna Balicka
Julianna Balicka
EVP and CFO at Hope Bancorp

We do have a plan out there like that, yes.

Tim Coffey
Tim Coffey
Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Brean Capital

Okay, great.

Operator

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

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

Thank you. As we look ahead, we remain committed to building a more profitable and resilient franchise and delivering sustainable long-term value for our stockholders. In closing, I want to thank our colleagues for their dedication and commitment. Their efforts are essential to executing our strategy and strengthening our organization. Thank you all for joining us today, and we look forward to speaking with you again next quarter.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

Executives
    • Maxime Olivan
      Maxime Olivan
      SVP and Investor Relations Manager
    • Kevin Kim
      Kevin Kim
      Chairman, President, and CEO
    • Julianna Balicka
      Julianna Balicka
      EVP and CFO
Analysts
    • Matthew Clark
      Managing Director at Piper Sandler
    • Gary Tenner
      Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at D.A. Davidson
    • Kelly Motta
      Director of Equity Research at KBW
    • Tim Coffey
      Managing Director and Associate Director of Depository Research at Brean Capital
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