Center Financial Appoints Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel.

LOS ANGELES -- Center Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CLFC), the financial holding company of Center Bank, today announced the appointment of Patrick Hartman as chief financial officer and Thomas Levine as general counsel.

"We are pleased to have further strengthened the Center Financial management team with two deeply experienced executives," said (Paul) Seon-Hong Kim, president and chief executive officer. "We look forward to their valued contributions as we continue to make progress growing the Center Bank franchise."

Hartman, 56, is a Certified Public Accountant and brings to Center Financial more than 28 years of experience in the financial services industry, the majority of which having been serving as chief financial officer of a community bank, prior to founding The Alpha Consulting Group, a provider of project management and network support services, primarily for financial institutions. From 1992 to 1997, he served as chief financial officer and chief information officer of CU Bancorp, the publicly traded holding company of California United Bank. Hartman was responsible for all aspects of financial management, mergers and acquisitions, investor relations and risk management, as well as MIS and item processing, outsourcing and network management. He also served as chief financial officer for 13 years at Community Bank, a $1.3 billion independent bank headquartered in Southern California. Hartman earned his B.A. in accounting and economics from the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater and his M.B.A. in finance from Northern Illinois University.

Levine, 53, has more than two decades of experience as in-house counsel representing financial institutions and public entities, including California Commerce Bank, Banamex USA Bancorp, Community Bank, Imperial Bank and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). He also served as a staff attorney for the FDIC and, most recently, as special litigation counsel for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the law firm Orbach, Huff & Suarez. He is the past chairman of the American Bankers Association Bank Counsel Unit and a frequent speaker for the California Bankers Association. Levine is a member of the California State Bar, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He received his B.A. in government from the California State University, Sacramento and his J.D. from Southwestern University.

About Center Financial Corporation

Center Financial Corporation is the financial holding company of Center Bank, a community bank offering a full range of financial services for diverse ethnic and small business customers. Founded in 1986 and specializing in commercial and SBA loans and trade finance products, Center Bank has grown to be one of the nation's largest financial institutions focusing on the Korean-American community, with total assets of $1.34 billion at December 31, 2004. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Center Bank operates 24 branch and loan production offices across the nation, of which 15 full-service branches are located throughout Southern California and in Chicago, plus nine loan production offices in Phoenix, Seattle, Denver, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Atlanta, Honolulu, Houston and Dallas. Center Bank is a California state-chartered institution and member of the FDIC. For additional information on Center Bank, visit the company's Web site at www.centerbank.com.

This release may contain forward-looking statements, which are included in accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and accordingly, the cautionary statements contained in Center Financial Corp's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2003 (See Business, and Management's Discussion and Analysis), and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission are incorporated herein by reference. These factors include, but are not limited to: competition in the financial services market for both deposits and loans; the ability of Center Financial and its subsidiaries to increase its customer base; and regional and general economic conditions. Actual results and performance in future periods may be materially different from any future results or performance suggested by the forward-looking statements in this release. Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Center Financial expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements found herein to reflect any changes in the company's expectations of results or any change in events.