COMMITMENTS, CONTINGENCIES AND RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (Details 2) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Other Commitments
Unfunded commitments for investments in tax credit and other investments	$ 174,700	$ 114,700
Loans Sold or Securitized with Recourse
Guarantees
Principal amount of loans sold or securitized	191,300	249,800
Principal amount of single-family loans with full recourse sold or securitized	29,800	35,500
Principal amount of multifamily loans with limited recourse sold or securitized	$ 161,500	214,300
Recourse provision limitation, maximum percentage of the top loss on the multifamily loans	4.00%
Recourse reserve related to loan sales and securitizations totaled	$ 630	2,200
East West Bank \| F&F, LLC and 618 Investment, Inc. v. East West Bank
Litigation
Litigation accrual	$ 35,400	$ 31,600

Represents the maximum percentage of the top loss on the multifamily loans with limited recourse.

No definition available.

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- Definition

The portion of the allowance for unfunded loan commitments, off-balance sheet credit exposures and recourse provisions specifically related to off-balance sheet loans sold and securitized.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

This is the principal amount outstanding for sold or securitized loans only (across all types of loans).

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
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- Definition

Represents the principal amount outstanding of multifamily loans with limited recourse sold or securitized.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Represents the principal amount outstanding of single-family loans with full recourse sold or securitized.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

The amount of unfunded commitments for which the entity is obligated, to those certain investments for which net asset value per share is calculated (including by unit, membership interest, or other equity (ownership interest) unit measure) (alternative investments).

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 820
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 6A
-Subparagraph (c)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=36462937&loc=SL6742756-110258

+ Details

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- References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
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- Definition

Amount of loss contingency liability.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 450
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=25496072&loc=d3e14326-108349

+ Details

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Balance Type:	credit
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- References

No definition available.

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- Details

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- Details

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- Details

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