Parent Company Condensed Financial Statements (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
East West Bank
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items]
Dividends declared	$ 160.0	$ 255.0	$ 100.0

Amount of paid and unpaid cash, stock, and paid-in-kind (PIK) dividends declared, for example, but not limited to, common and preferred stock.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187085-122770

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 405
-Section 45
-Paragraph 2
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6957935&loc=d3e64057-112817

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration