East West Bancorp said it earned $30.2 million, or 21 cents a share, during the quarter ended June 30, compared with a loss of $115.7 million, or $1.83 per share, during the same quarter in 2009. The results, which were reported after the close of trading, exceeded analysts' expectations of 18 cents a share. East West, based in Pasadena, has nearly $20 billion in assets , making it the second-largest bank based in Southern California, after City National Corp. City National said last week it earned $41.3 million in the quarter, up from $6.8 million a year earlier, and also beat expectations on improving credit quality.
Cathay General Bankcorp, based in Los Angeles' Chinatown, also said its loss provision and charge-offs fell as it earned $1.9 million, compared with a loss of $25.7 million a year earlier. The bank, with $11.4 billion in assets, said it lost 3 cents a share after paying $4.1billion in dividends to preferred shareholders. Wall Street had forecast a loss of 21 cents a share. (Source: E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles Times, Jul 28, 2010),