EAST WEST BANCORP INC

Note 5 —Derivatives

The Company uses derivative instruments to manage exposure to market risk, primarily interest rate and foreign currency risks, as well as to assist customers with their risk management objectives. The Company’s goal is to manage interest rate sensitivity and volatility to mitigate the effect of interest rate changes on earnings or capital. The Company also uses foreign exchange contracts to manage the foreign exchange rate risk associated with certain foreign currency-denominated assets and liabilities, the funding needs, as well as the Bank’s investment in EWCN. The Company recognizes all derivatives on the Consolidated Balance Sheet at fair value. While the Company designates certain derivatives as hedging instruments in a qualifying hedge accounting relationship, other derivatives serve as economic hedges. For additional information on the Company’s derivatives and hedging activities, see Note 1 —Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — Significant Accounting Policies — Derivativesto the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K.

The following table presents the notional amounts and fair values of the Company’s derivatives as of December 31, 2025 and 2024. Certain derivative contracts are cleared through central clearing organizations where variation margin is applied daily as settlement to the fair values of the contracts. The fair values are presented on a gross basis prior to the application of bilateral collateral and master netting agreements, but after the application of variation margin payments as settlement to fair values of contracts cleared through central clearing organizations. Applying variation margin payments as settlement to the fair values of derivative contracts cleared through the London Clearing House (“LCH”) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”) resulted in reductions in the derivative asset and liability fair values of$16 million and$3 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2025. In comparison, applying variation margin payments as settlement to LCH- and CME-cleared derivative transactions resulted in reductions in the derivative asset and liability fair values of $17 million and $15 million, respectively, as of December 31, 2024. Total gross derivative asset and liability fair values are then adjusted to reflect the effects of legally enforceable master netting agreements and cash collateral received or paid. The resulting net derivative asset and liability fair values are included in Other assets and Accrued expenses and other liabilities, respectively, on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.

(1)The notional amount of the Company’s commodity contracts totaled 16 million barrels of crude oil and 364 million units of natural gas, measured in million British thermal units (“MMBTUs”) as of December 31, 2025. In comparison, the notional amount of the Company’s commodity contracts totaled 21 million barrels of crude oil and 407 million MMBTUs of natural gas as of December 31, 2024.

(2)The notional amount for the credit contracts reflects the Company’s pro-rata share of the notional amount in the underlying derivative instruments in RPAs.

(3)The Company held warrant equity contracts innine andeight private companies as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

(4)Equity contracts classified as derivative liabilities consist of 349 thousand performance-based RSUs granted as part of EWBC’s consideration in an investment.

Derivatives Designated as Hedging Instruments

Cash Flow Hedges — The Company uses interest rate swaps and collars to hedge the variability in the interest amount received on certain floating-rate commercial loans due to changes in the contractually specified interest rates. As of December 31, 2025, interest rate contracts in notional amounts of $4.3 billion were designated as cash flow hedges to convert certain variable-rate loans from floating-rate payments to fixed-rate payments. Gains and losses on the hedging derivative instruments are recognized in AOCI and reclassified to earnings in the same period the hedged cash flows impact earnings and are recorded within the same income statement line item as the hedged cash flows. Considering the interest rates, yield curve and notional amount as of December 31, 2025, the Company expects to reclassify an estimated $8 million of after-tax net gains on derivative instruments designated as cash flow hedges from AOCI into earnings during the next 12 months.

The following table presents the pre-tax changes in AOCI from cash flow hedges for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023. The after-tax impact of cash flow hedges on AOCI is shown in Note 15 — Accumulated Other Comprehensive (Loss) Income to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K.

(1)Represents the amounts in AOCI reclassified into earnings resulting from forecasted cash flows that were no longer probable to occur.

Net Investment Hedges — The Company entered into foreign currency forward contracts to hedge a portion of the Bank’s investment in EWCN, a non-USD functional currency subsidiary in China. The hedging instruments designated as net investment hedges were used to hedge against the risk of adverse changes in the foreign currency exchange rate of the Chinese Renminbi. There was no active net investment hedge during the year ended December 31, 2025. The following table presents the pre-tax gains recognized in AOCI on net investment hedges for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023:

Derivatives Not Designated as Hedging Instruments

Customer-Related Positions and Economic Hedge Derivatives— The Company enters into interest rate, commodity, and foreign exchange derivatives at the request of its customers and generally enters into offsetting derivative contracts with third-party financial institutions to mitigate the inherent market risk. The Company also utilizes foreign exchange contracts to mitigate the effect of currency fluctuations on certain foreign currency-denominated on-balance sheet assets and liabilities, primarily foreign currency denominated deposits that it offers to its customers, as well as to meet its funding needs in certain foreign currencies. A majority of the foreign exchange contracts had original maturities ofone year or less as of both December 31, 2025 and 2024.

The following table presents the notional amounts and the gross fair values of the interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives entered into with customers and with third-party financial institutions as economic hedges to customers’ positions as of December 31, 2025 and 2024:

The Company enters into energy commodity contracts with its customers in the oil and gas sector, which allow them to hedge against the risk of fluctuation in energy commodity prices. Offsetting contracts entered with third-party financial institutions are used as economic hedges to manage the Company’s exposure on its customer-related positions. The following table presents the notional amounts in units and the gross fair values of the commodity derivatives issued for customer-related positions and economic hedges as of December 31, 2025 and 2024:

Credit Contracts — The Company periodically enters into credit RPAs with institutional counterparties to manage the credit exposure of the interest rate contracts associated with syndicated loans. Under the RPAs, a portion of the credit exposure is transferred from one party (the purchaser of credit protection) to another party (the seller of credit protection). The seller of credit protection is required to make payments to the purchaser of credit protection if the underlying borrower defaults on the related interest rate contract. The Company may enter into protection sold or protection purchased RPAs. Credit risk on RPAs is managed by monitoring the credit worthiness of the borrowers and the institutional counterparties, which is a part of the Company’s normal credit review and monitoring process. Assuming the underlying borrowers referenced in the interest rate contracts defaulted, the maximum exposure in the credit protection sold RPAs would be $590 thousand and $170 thousand as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

The following table presents the notional amounts and the gross fair values of RPAs sold and purchased outstanding as of December 31, 2025 and 2024:

(1)All reference entities of the protection sold RPAs were investment grade. The weighted-average remaining maturities were 2.7 years and 1.6 years as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

Equity Contracts — As part of the loan origination process, the Company may obtain warrants to purchase the preferred and/or common stock of its borrowers’ companies, which are mainly in the technology and life sciences sectors. Warrants grant the Company the right to buy a certain class of the underlying company’s equity at a certain price before expiration. In connection with an investment the Company made during the third quarter of 2023, the Company granted performance-based RSUs as part of its consideration. The vesting of these equity contracts is contingent on the investee meeting certain financial performance targets during the future performance period. For additional information on these equity contracts, refer to Note 2 — Fair Value Measurement and Fair Value of Financial Instrumentsto the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K.

The following table presents the net gains (losses) due to fair value changes that are recognized on the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Income related to derivatives not designated as hedging instruments for the years ended December 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023:

Credit-Risk-Related Contingent Features — Certain of the Company’s over-the-counter derivative contracts contain early termination provisions that require the Company to settle any outstanding balances upon the occurrence of a specified credit-risk-related event. Such an event primarily relates to a downgrade of the credit rating of East West Bank to below investment grade. As of December 31, 2025, the aggregate fair value amounts of all derivative instruments with credit risk-related contingent features that were in a net liability position totaled $3 million, for which $3 million collateral was posted to cover these positions. In comparison, as of December 31, 2024, the aggregate fair value amounts of all derivative instruments with credit risk-related contingent features that were in a net liability position totaled $1 million, for which $1 million collateral was posted to cover these positions. In the event that the credit rating of East West Bank had been downgraded to below investment grade, the Company would have been required to post minimal additional collateral as of both December 31, 2025 and 2024.

Offsetting of Derivatives

The following tables present the gross derivative fair values, the balance sheet netting adjustments, and the resulting net fair values recorded on the Consolidated Balance Sheet, as well as the cash and noncash collateral associated with master netting arrangements. The gross fair values of derivative assets and liabilities are presented after the application of variation margin payments as settlements to the fair values of contracts cleared through central clearing organizations, where applicable. The collateral amounts in the following tables are limited to the outstanding balances of the related asset or liability. Therefore, instances of over-collateralization are not shown:

(1)Includes $9 million and $4 million of gross fair value assets with counterparties that were not subject to enforceable master netting arrangements or similar agreements as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

(2)Includes $16 million and $27 million of gross fair value liabilities with counterparties that were not subject to enforceable master netting arrangements or similar agreements as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

(3)Gross cash collateral received under master netting arrangements or similar agreements were $184 million and $322 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Of the gross cash collateral received, $183 million and $316 million were used to offset against derivative assets as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

(4)Gross cash collateral pledged under master netting arrangements or similar agreements were $29 million and $1 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. Of the gross cash collateral pledged, $28 million and $1 million were used to offset against derivative liabilities as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.

(5)Represents the fair value of security collateral received or pledged limited to derivative assets or liabilities that are subject to enforceable master netting arrangements or similar agreements. U.S. GAAP does not permit the netting of noncash collateral on the Consolidated Balance Sheet but requires the disclosure of such amounts.

In addition to the amounts included in the tables above, the Company may have balance sheet netting related to resale agreements. Refer to Note 3 — Securities Purchased under Resale Agreements to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K for additional information. Refer to Note 2 — Fair Value Measurement and Fair Value of Financial Instruments to the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-K for fair value measurement disclosures on derivatives.