HOPE BANCORP INC

a. Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by us in reports filed or submitted under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures.

In designing and evaluating disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives, and management is required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures.

We conducted an evaluation under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2023. Based upon that evaluation, our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer determined that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2023.

b. Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

The management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act. This system, which our management has chosen to base on the framework set forth in the 2013 Internal Control-Integrated Framework, published by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”), is supervised by our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, is effected by the Board, management and other personnel, and is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

The Company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the Company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the Company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and the directors of the Company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the Company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, a system of internal control over financial reporting can provide only reasonable assurance and may not prevent or detect misstatements. Further, because of changes in conditions, effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting may vary over time.

With the participation of our Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, and under the direction of our audit committee, our management has conducted an assessment of the effectiveness of the Company’s system of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, using the criteria set forth by COSO. Based on this assessment, our management believes that the Company’s system of internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2023.

Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued an attestation report on our internal control over financial reporting which is included on page F-1 of this report.

c. Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Management has determined that there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) of the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended December 31, 2023, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Our independent registered public accounting firm has issued an audit report on our internal control over financial reporting which is included on page F-1 of this report.