EAST WEST BANCORP INC

Note 12 —Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments to Extend Credit— In the normal course of business, the Company provides loan commitments and letters of credit to customers on predetermined terms. These outstanding commitments to extend credit are not reflected in the accompanying Consolidated Financial Statements.

The following table presents the Company’s credit-related commitments as of December 31, 2025 and 2024:

Loan commitments are agreements to lend to customers provided there are no violations of any conditions established in the agreement. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses and may require commitment fees. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future funding requirements.

Commercial letters of credit are issued to facilitate domestic and foreign trade transactions, while SBLCs are generally contingent upon the failure of the customers to perform according to the terms of the underlying contract with the third party. As a result, the total contractual amounts do not necessarily represent future funding requirements. The Company’s historical experience is that SBLCs typically expire without being funded. Additionally, in many cases, the Company holds collateral in various forms against these SBLCs. As part of its risk management activities, the Company monitors the creditworthiness of customers in conjunction with its SBLC exposure. Customers are obligated to reimburse the Company for any payment made on the customers’ behalf. If the customers fail to pay, the Company would, as applicable, liquidate the collateral and/or offset existing accounts. As of December 31, 2025, total letters of credit of $3.0 billion consisted of SBLCs of $2.9 billion and commercial letters of credit of $31 million. In comparison, as of December 31, 2024, total letters of credit of $2.9 billion consisted of SBLCs of $2.9 billion and commercial letters of credit of $29 million. As of both December 31, 2025 and 2024, substantially all letters of credit were graded “Pass” using the Bank’s internal credit risk rating system.

The Company applies the same credit underwriting criteria to extend loans, commitments, and conditional obligations to customers. Each customer’s creditworthiness is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Collateral and financial guarantees may be obtained based on management’s assessment of a customer’s credit risk. Collateral may include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, personal property, plant and equipment, and real estate property.

Estimated exposure to loss from these commitments is included in the allowance for unfunded credit commitments, and amounted to $49 million and $39 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. For further information on the allowance for unfunded credit commitments, refer to Note 6 — Loans Receivable and Allowance for Credit Losses to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K

Guarantees — The Company occasionally sells or securitizes single-family and multifamily residential loans with recourse in the ordinary course of business. The Company is obligated to repurchase up to the recourse component of the loans if the loans default. The following table presents the maximum potential future payments and carrying value of loans sold or securitized with recourse as of December 31, 2025 and 2024:

(1)Represents the unpaid principal balance.

The Company continues to experience minimal losses from the single-family and multifamily residential loan portfolios sold or securitized with recourse and recorded an immaterial recourse reserve as of December 31, 2025 and 2024.

Litigation— The Company is a party to various legal actions arising in the ordinary course of its business. In accordance with ASC 450, Contingencies, the Company accrues reserves for outstanding lawsuits, claims and proceedings when a loss contingency is probable and can be reasonably estimated. The Company estimates the amount of loss contingencies using current available information from legal proceedings, advice from legal counsel and available insurance coverage. Due to the inherent subjectivity of the assessments and unpredictability of the outcomes of the legal proceedings, any amounts accrued or included in this aggregate amount may not represent the ultimate loss to the Company from the legal proceedings in question. Thus, the Company’s exposure and ultimate losses may be higher, and possibly significantly more than the amounts accrued.

While it is impossible to ascertain the ultimate resolution or range of financial liability, based on information known to the Company as of December 31, 2025, the Company does not believe there are any pending legal proceedings to which the Company is a party that, individually or in the aggregate, would reasonably be expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition. In light of the inherent uncertainty in legal proceedings, however, there can be no assurance that the ultimate resolution will not exceed established reserves and it is possible that the outcome of a particular matter, or a combination of matters, may be material to the Company’s financial condition for a particular period, depending upon the size of the loss and the Company’s income for that particular period.