Regulatory Requirements and Matters

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Banking and Thrift [Abstract]

Regulatory Requirements and Matters

Regulatory Requirements and Matters

Capital Adequacy — The Company and the Bank are subject to regulatory capital adequacy requirements administered by the federal banking agencies. The Bank is a member bank of the Federal Reserve System and is primarily regulated by the Federal Reserve. The Company and the Bank are required to comply with the Basel III Capital Rules adopted by the federal banking agencies. Both the Company and the Bank are standardized approaches institutions under Basel III Capital Rules. The Basel III Capital Rule requires that banking organizations maintain a minimum Common Equity Tier 1 (“CET1”) capital ratio of 4.5%, a Tier 1 capital ratio of 6.0%, and a total capital ratio of 8.0% to be considered adequately capitalized. Failure to meet minimum capital requirements can result in certain mandatory actions and possibly additional discretionary actions by regulators that, if undertaken, could have a direct material effect on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. The Basel III Capital Rules also requires the Company and the Bank to maintain a capital conservation buffer of 2.5% above the minimum capital ratios in order to absorb losses during periods of economic stress, effective January 1, 2019. Banking institutions with a ratio of CET1 to risk-weighted assets above the minimum but below the capital conservation buffer will face constraints on dividends, equity repurchases and compensation based on the amount of the shortfall.

The FDIC Improvement Act of 1991 requires that the federal regulatory agencies adopt regulations defining capital categories for banks: well capitalized, adequately capitalized, undercapitalized, significantly undercapitalized and critically undercapitalized. Consistent with the Basel III Capital Rules, the capital categories were augmented by including the CET1 capital measure, and revised risk-based capital measures to reflect the rule changes to the minimum risk-based capital ratios.

As of December 31, 2019 and 2018, the Company and the Bank were both categorized as well capitalized based on applicable U.S. regulatory capital ratio requirements in accordance with Basel III standardized approaches, as set forth in the table below. The Company believes that no changes in conditions or events have occurred since December 31, 2019, which would result in changes that would cause the Company or the Bank to fall below the well capitalized level. The following table presents the regulatory capital information of the Company and the Bank as of December 31, 2019 and 2018:

($ in thousands)	Basel III
	December 31, 2019								December 31, 2018
	Actual				Minimum Capital    Ratios (3)		Well Capitalized Requirement		Actual				Minimum Capital    Ratios (3)		Well Capitalized Requirement
	Amount		Ratio		Ratio		Ratio		Amount		Ratio		Ratio		Ratio
Total capital (to risk-weighted assets)
Company	$	5,064,037	14.4	%	10.50	%	10.0	%	$	4,438,730	13.7	%	9.88	%	10.0	%
East West Bank	$	4,886,237	13.9	%	10.50	%	10.0	%	$	4,268,616	13.1	%	9.88	%	10.0	%
Tier 1 capital (to risk-weighted assets)
Company	$	4,546,592	12.9	%	8.50	%	8.0	%	$	3,966,842	12.2	%	7.88	%	8.0	%
East West Bank	$	4,516,792	12.9	%	8.50	%	8.0	%	$	3,944,728	12.1	%	7.88	%	8.0	%
CET1 capital (to risk-weighted assets)
Company	$	4,546,592	12.9	%	7.00	%	6.5	%	$	3,966,842	12.2	%	6.38	%	6.5	%
East West Bank	$	4,516,792	12.9	%	7.00	%	6.5	%	$	3,944,728	12.1	%	6.38	%	6.5	%
Tier 1 leverage capital (to adjusted average assets)
Company (1)	$	4,546,592	10.3	%	4.0	%	N/A		$	3,966,842	9.9	%	4.0	%	N/A
East West Bank	$	4,516,792	10.3	%	4.0	%	5.0	%	$	3,944,728	9.8	%	4.0	%	5.0	%
Risk-weighted assets
Company	$	35,136,427	N/A		N/A		N/A		$	32,497,296	N/A		N/A		N/A
East West Bank	$	35,127,920	N/A		N/A		N/A		$	32,477,002	N/A		N/A		N/A
Adjusted quarterly average total assets (2)
Company	$	44,449,802	N/A		N/A		N/A		$	40,636,402	N/A		N/A		N/A
East West Bank	$	44,419,308	N/A		N/A		N/A		$	40,611,215	N/A		N/A		N/A

(1) The Tier 1 leverage capital well-capitalized requirement applies to the Bank only since there is no Tier 1 leverage ratio component in the definition of a well-capitalized bank holding company.

(2) Reflects adjusted average total assets for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018.

(3) The CET1, Tier 1, and total capital minimum ratios include a fully phased-in capital conservation buffer of 2.5% and a transition capital conservation buffer of 1.875% for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

N/A — Not applicable.

Reserve Requirement — The Bank is required to maintain a percentage of its deposits as reserves at the FRB. The daily average reserve requirement was approximately $829.0 million and $707.3 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.