East West Bancorp

EWBC

East West Bancorp is the parent company of East West Bank. It is a publicly owned company with $42.1 billion in assets as of April 18, 2019. The Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, East West Bank, is the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California. It is a premier bank focused exclusively on the United States and Greater China markets and operates over 130 locations worldwide, including the markets of California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Texas and Washington. In Greater China, East West’s presence includes full service branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shantou and Shenzhen, and representative offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Taipei and Xiamen.East West Bancorp Inc. operates segments in Retail Banking, Commercial Banking, and Other.On May 28, 1999, East West Bancorp Inc., parent company of wholly owned East West Bank, announced that it had completed its $13.5 million acquisition of First Central Bank, N.A. in an all-cash transaction.

East West Bancorp has been a target of short sellers for a while. The current short interest of 3.01% is roughly at the average of the last 12 months (2.96%).