HOPE BANCORP INC

Shareholders and the Board of Directors of Hope Bancorp, Inc.

Los Angeles, California

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated statements of financial condition of Hope Bancorp, Inc. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income (loss), changes in stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2025, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). We also have audited the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework: (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 2025 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework: (2013) issued by COSO.

Basis for Opinions

The Company’s management is responsible for these financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements and an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A 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 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, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing a separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.

Allowance and Provision for Credit Losses – Loans Carried at Amortized Cost

Refer to Notes 1 and 4 to the Consolidated Financial Statements

The Company accounts for credit losses under Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification No. 326, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses, which requires the Company to estimate expected credit losses for its financial assets carried at amortized cost utilizing the current expected credit loss (“CECL”) methodology.

The allowance for credit losses (“ACL”) under the CECL methodology was a significant estimate recorded within the Company’s financial statements with a reported balance of $156.7 million as of December 31, 2025; $141.5 million, or approximately 90% of the ACL was estimated on a collective basis utilizing reasonable and supportable forecasts, current conditions, and historical loss experience. The Company utilized models to estimate probability of default (“PD”) and loss given default (“LGD”) rates to estimate the estimated loss of its largest loan portfolio segment – commercial real estate (“CRE”) loans. The modeled ACL represented a significant component of this portion of the Company’s ACL estimate.

The principal consideration for our determination that auditing the CRE-modeled component of the ACL estimate is a critical audit matter is due to the level of audit effort required for certain aspects of the modeling process. The Company’s CECL modeling process is multifaceted and involves a significant amount of effort and management judgment, which in turn involved our especially complex and subjective judgment.

A number of management judgments and assumptions are required during the modeling process for CRE loans assessed on a collective basis, such as the selection of economic forecast scenarios to adjust PD and LGD rates. Management’s identification and analysis of these judgments and assumptions requires significant judgment, which in turn involved especially complex and subjective auditor judgment when evaluating such judgments and assumptions.

To address these matters, we tested the design and operating effectiveness of the Company’s controls related to management judgments and assumptions within the modeling process including, but not limited to:

•Management’s model validation, conducted by the Company’s Model Risk Management Department, which includes an evaluation of the reasonableness and sensitivity of significant management judgments and assumptions

•Management’s review of the reasonableness and sensitivity of significant judgments and assumptions

•Management’s review of the directional consistency of judgments and assumptions with modeled or estimate results

Our principal substantive audit procedures related to the management judgments and assumptions included, but were not limited to:

•Evaluation of the sensitivity of significant judgments and assumptions

•Evaluation of the reasonableness of management’s judgments and assumptions within the Company’s ACL methodology and framework

Business Combination – Fair Value of Purchased Seasoned Loans

Refer to Notes 1 and 19 to the Consolidated Financial Statements

The Company completed the acquisition of Territorial Bancorp Inc. for stock consideration totaling $73.3 million on April 2, 2025. The Company accounted for this transaction under the acquisition method of accounting in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification No. 805, Business Combinations, which requires the acquiring entity to record the assets acquired and liabilities assumed at fair value on the acquisition date. The determination of fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed involves significant judgment by management. The Company acquired loans with an estimated fair value of $1.07 billion, which is net of a $3.8 million discount on purchased credit deteriorated loans and $202.0 million discount on purchased seasoned loans. To determine the fair value of purchased seasoned loans, the Company utilized the discounted cash flow method and applied significant judgments and assumptions, such as discount rates and prepayment speeds to adjust projected cash flows.

The principal consideration for our determination that auditing the fair value of purchased seasoned loans is a critical audit matter is due to the involvement of significant auditor judgment, including the need for specialized skills to develop a valuation model and key assumptions, such as discount rates and prepayment speeds.

To address these matters, we tested the design and operating effectiveness of the Company’s controls related to management judgments and assumptions within the determination of the fair value of purchased seasoned loans, including but not limited to management’s review of the appropriateness of methods and reasonableness of assumptions applied in the estimate of fair value of purchased seasoned loans.

Our principal substantive audit procedures included, but were not limited to:

•Testing the completeness and accuracy of management data used in developing our independent expectation of the fair value of purchased seasoned loans

•Evaluating the valuation methodology used to estimate the fair value of purchased seasoned loans in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles

•Utilizing the assistance of our internal valuation specialists to develop an independent expectation of the fair value of purchased seasoned loans for comparison to management’s fair value estimate

/s/ Crowe LLP

Crowe LLP

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2017.

Los Angeles, California

February 25, 2026