The previously announced merger of the parent companies of Nara Bank and Center Bank is expected to close on Wednesday and will create the nation’s largest bank focusing on the ethnic Korean market, the companies said in a joint statement.
The new company will be called BBCN (an abbreviated form of Business Bank of Center and Nara) and will adopt a new logo and trade under the ticker symbol “BBCN” starting Thursday.
BBCN, which will be headed by Nara chief executive Alvin Kang, will be the seventh-largest bank based in Los Angeles County, with more than $4.4 billion in deposits and more than $5 billion in assets.
Both banks specialized in loans to small businesses and had a lot of exposure to the beleaguered commercial mortgage market, which prompted consolidation.
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