Center Financial Appoints New Chief Marketing Officer; Banking Industry Veteran Tapped for Newly Created Position; Three New Marketing Officers Further Strengthen Sales and Marketing Team.

LOS ANGELES -- Center Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:CLFC), the holding company of Center Bank, today announced the expansion of its sales and marketing organization with the appointment of Susanna H. Rivera to the newly created position of chief marketing officer. Center Bank also named three new marketing officers.

Reporting directly to (Paul) Seon-Hong Kim, president and chief executive officer, Rivera will focus on formulating new business development strategies. Rivera comes to Center Bank with 25 years of banking experience with two major Asian-American banks in the Los Angeles area. As senior vice president and district leader, responsible for four Los Angeles area Hanmi Bank branches, Rivera handled a wide range of loan products, including commercial lines of credit, international lines and commercial real estate loans. She began her banking career in 1981 with Sumitomo Bank of California and, during her 17-year tenure, moved up the ranks with various roles of increasing responsibilities including vice president and branch manager.

"We are very excited to add Susanna to Center Bank's talented business development team," said Kim. "She brings a successful history of developing and managing strong, sales-oriented teams that will serve us well as we continue to focus on growing our loan and deposit portfolios through our community-based branch network. By adding the new position of chief marketing officer, we will be well positioned to leverage the knowledge and acumen that Susanna has accumulated throughout her career across all of our branch offices."

Center Bank also added three highly experienced marketing executives to further strengthen the Bank's marketing team and build greater presence within the local communities it serves.

Esau C. Liu will supervise Center Bank's loan production office in Dallas. Liu's experience spans more than two decades of business development and loan portfolio management for leading financial institutions. From 1996 to 2005, Liu served as regional president and executive vice president at MetroBank and was responsible for formulating the bank's strategic business plan for the Dallas/Fort Worth market. There, he supervised day-to-day business development activities, commercial credit underwriting and loan portfolio management. Prior to that time, all in the Dallas market, he served as an officer with some of the world's largest international banks and served in various roles including account officer, credit analyst, vice president of private banking, and head of lending.

Kourosh Hangafarin joined Center Bank as a new marketing executive to focus on business development and loan generation in the San Diego area and Orange County. Hangafarin brings a strong network of relationships through numerous civic affiliations, including president of the Iranian American Leadership PAC, past national president of the Iranian American Republican Council, board member of the Lincoln Club of San Diego County and a member of both the World Affairs Council of San Diego and the World Future Society.

Jonathan Cha, also a new marketing executive, will focus on business development activities in the greater Los Angeles area. Cha is currently the controller and a director of the Inland Empire Korean-American Association and has a deep network of relations in the Downtown Los Angeles fashion district and with the Korean-American Grocers Association (KAGRO). He is fluent in four languages.

About Center Financial Corporation

Center Financial Corporation is the 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 $1.7 billion at March 31, 2005. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Center Bank operates 26 branch and loan production offices across the nation. Of the company's 17 full-service branches, 15 are located throughout Southern California, along with one branch each in Chicago and Seattle. Center Bank's nine loan production offices are strategically located in Phoenix, Seattle, Denver, Washington D.C., Las Vegas, Atlanta, Honolulu, Houston and Dallas. Center Bank is a California state-chartered institution and its deposits are insured by the FDIC to the extent provided by law. For additional information on Center Bank, visit the company's Web site at www.centerbank.com.