EAST WEST BANCORP INC

Liquidity

Liquidity risk arises from the Company’s inability to meet its customer deposit withdrawals and obligations to other counterparties as they come due, or to obtain adequate funding at a reasonable cost to meet those obligations. Liquidity risk also considers the stability of deposits. The objective of liquidity management is to manage the potential mismatch of asset and liability cash flows. Maintaining an adequate level of liquidity depends on the institution’s ability to efficiently meet both expected and unexpected cash flow and collateral needs without adversely affecting daily operations or the financial condition of the institution. To achieve this objective, the Company analyzes its liquidity risk, maintains readily available liquid assets, and utilizes diverse funding sources including its stable core deposit base.

The ROC has primary oversight responsibility over liquidity risk management. At the management level, the Company’s Asset/Liability Committee (“ALCO”) establishes the liquidity guidelines that govern the day-to-day active management of the Company’s liquidity position by requiring sufficient asset-based liquidity to cover potential funding requirements and avoid over-dependence on volatile, less reliable funding markets. These guidelines are established and monitored for both the Bank and East West on a stand-alone basis to ensure that the Company can serve as a source of strength for its subsidiaries. The ALCO regularly monitors the Company’s liquidity status and related management processes, and provides regular reports on the Company’s liquidity position relative to policy limits and guidelines to the Board of Directors. The liquidity management practices have been effective under normal operating and stressed market conditions.

The Company also maintains a Liquidity Contingency Plan that provides an early-warning methodology to detect liquidity problems and provide a timely response. The Liquidity Contingency Plan describes the procedures, roles and responsibilities, and communication protocols for managing any identified liquidity problem. Management monitors the early-warning indicators defined in the Liquidity Contingency Plan, which include metrics for measuring the Company’s internal liquidity status as well as company-specific and market-wide external factors. When early-warning signals are detected, the ALCO is informed, and the problem is evaluated for severity. The ALCO will determine the course of action and appropriate contingency funding sources, if any, that are needed.

Liquidity Risk — Liquidity Sources. The Company’s primary source of funding is from deposits, generated by its banking business, which we believe is a relatively stable and low-cost source of funding. Our loans are funded by deposits, which amounted to $58.6 billion as of March 31, 2024, compared with $56.1 billion as of December 31, 2023. The Company’s loan-to-deposit ratio was 89% as of March 31, 2024, compared with 93% as of December 31, 2023.

In addition to deposits, the Company has access to various sources of wholesale financing, including borrowing capacity with the FHLB and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (“FRBSF”), unsecured federal funds lines of credit with various correspondent banks, and several master repurchase agreements with major brokerage companies to sustain an adequate liquid asset portfolio, meet daily cash demands and allow management flexibility to execute its business strategy. However, general financial market and economic conditions could impact our access and cost of external funding. Additionally, the Company’s access to capital markets is affected by the ratings received from various credit rating agencies.

Unencumbered loans and/or debt securities were pledged to the FHLB and the FRBSF discount window as collateral. The Company has established operational procedures to enable borrowing against these assets, including regular monitoring of the total pool of loans and debt securities eligible as collateral. Eligibility of collateral is defined in guidelines from the FHLB and FRBSF and is subject to change at their discretion. See Item 2 — MD&A — Balance Sheet Analysis — Deposits and Other Sources of Fundingin this Form 10-Q for further details related to the Company’s funding sources. The Company believes its cash and cash equivalents, and available borrowing capacity described below provide sufficient liquidity above its expected cash needs.

The Company maintains its source of liquidity in the form of cash and cash equivalents and borrowing capacity with its eligible loans and debt securities as collateral. The following table presents the Company’s total cash and cash equivalents and collateralized borrowing capacity as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023:

The Company’s cash and cash equivalents and collateralized borrowing capacity totaled $30.1 billion as of March 31, 2024, compared with $28.8 billion as of December 31, 2023. The increase was primarily related to an increase in available borrowing capacity at the FRBSF due to the repayment of BTFP borrowings, and an increase in unpledged available securities. This increase was partially offset by a decrease in available borrowing capacity at the FHLB, primarily due to the increase in FHLB advances during the first quarter of 2024.

Liquidity Risk — Cash Requirements. In the ordinary course of business, the Company enters contractual obligations that require future cash payments, including funding for customer deposit withdrawals, repayments for short- and long-term borrowings, and other cash commitments. For additional information on these obligations, see Note 9 — Deposits to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Company’s 2023 Form 10-K, and Note 8 — Affordable Housing Partnership, Tax Credit and Community Reinvestment Act Investments, Netand Note 10 — Short-Term Borrowings and Long-Term Debtto the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-Q. During the first quarter of 2024, the Company redeemed approximately $117 million of junior subordinated debt.

The Company also has off-balance sheet arrangements which represent transactions that are not recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet. The Company’s off-balance sheet arrangements include (1) commitments to extend credit, such as loan commitments, commercial letters of credit for foreign and domestic trade, standby letters of credit (“SBLCs”), and financial guarantees, to meet the financing needs of its customers, (2) future interest obligations related to customer deposits and the Company’s borrowings, and (3) transactions with unconsolidated entities that provide financing, liquidity, market risk or credit risk support to the Company, or engage in leasing, hedging or research and development services with the Company. Because many of these commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future funding requirements. The Company does not expect the total commitment amounts as of March 31, 2024 to have a material current or future impact on the Company’s financial conditions or results of operations. Information about the Company’s loan commitments, commercial letters of credit and SBLCs is provided in Note 11 — Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-Q.

The Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows summarizes the Company’s sources and uses of cash by type of activity for the first quarters of 2024 and 2023. Excess cash generated by operating and investing activities may be used to repay outstanding debt or invest in liquid assets.

Liquidity Risk — Liquidity for East West. In addition to bank level liquidity management, the Company manages liquidity at the parent company level for various operating needs including payment of dividends, repurchases of common stock, principal and interest payments on its borrowings, acquisitions and additional investments in its subsidiaries. East West’s primary source of liquidity is from cash dividends distributed by its subsidiary, East West Bank. The Bank is subject to various statutory and regulatory restrictions on its ability to pay dividends as discussed in Item 1. Business — Supervision and Regulation — Dividends and Other Transfers of Fundsin the Company’s 2023 Form 10-K. East West held $287 million and $446 million in cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. Management believes that East West has sufficient cash and cash equivalents to meet the projected cash obligations for the coming year.

Liquidity Risk — Liquidity Stress Testing. The Company utilizes liquidity stress analysis to determine the appropriate amounts of liquidity to maintain at the Company, foreign subsidiary and foreign branch to meet contractual and contingent cash outflows under a range of scenarios. Scenario analyses include assumptions about significant changes in key funding sources, market triggers, potential uses of funding and economic conditions in certain countries. In addition, Company specific events are incorporated into the stress testing. Liquidity stress tests are conducted to ascertain potential mismatches between liquidity sources and uses over various time horizons and under a variety of stressed conditions. Given the range of potential stresses, the Company maintains contingency funding plans on a consolidated basis and for individual entities.

As of March 31, 2024, the Company believes it has adequate liquidity resources to conduct operations and meet other needs in the ordinary course of business, and is not aware of any events that are reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on its liquidity, capital resources or operations. Given the uncertain and rapidly changing market and economic conditions, the Company will continue to actively evaluate the impact on its business and financial position. For more details on how economic conditions may impact our liquidity, see Item 1A. Risk Factorsin the Company’s 2023 Form 10-K.