Cathay General Bancorp

In 1962, Cathay Bank opened for business with the mission of providing financial services to the growing but underserved Chinese-American community in the greater Los Angeles area, thus becoming the first Chinese-American bank in Southern California. Recognizing that the community it served was part of a more diverse one, Cathay Bank adopted the motto "An Open Door for All." Its rapid expansion was fueled by successive waves of immigration, burgeoning trade between America and Asia, and the economic development of the surrounding community. Since its inception, when it only had $550,000 in capital, Cathay Bank has thrived and is now part of a publicly traded financial institution with stockholder equity of approximately $1.43 billion and total assets of $11.25 billion. Its service network extends from the West Coast to New York and Massachusetts on the Eastern Seaboard, north to the state of Washington, and south to Texas. Overseas, it has a presence in the three important commercial centers in the Asian-Pacific Rim-Taipei, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.