Soo Bong Min: President and Chief Executive Wilshire Bancorp Inc.Residence: La Canada Flintridge Born: Hwanghae province, Korea; 1938 Education: B.A., economics, Seoul University Start in Banking: Joined Seoul-based Commercial Bank of Korea The Bank of Korea is the national central bank of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). It was established on June 12, 1950 in Seoul. History The Bank of Korea, the central bank of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was established on June 12, 1950 under the Bank of Korea in 1959 out of college. After working his way up the ladder to become the equivalent of chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. , he was appointed president of the bank's securities subsidiary. Previous Jobs: After a 34-year banking career in South Korea, Min was recruited by Los Angeles-based Hanmi Bank to become its president in 1994. He moved to Wilshire State Bank in 1999 to become its president and chief executive. He retained those titles, and was appointed a director of Wilshire Bancorp upon its formation in December 2003. Target Market: While it's a commercial bank strongly affiliated with Los Angeles' Korean-American community, Wilshire State always has had a multi-ethnic, small business focus with customers in Jewish and Hispanic communities. "The majority of the bank's initial capital in 1980 came from Jewish businessmen, who continue to be represented on the board." Expansion Plans: The majority of branches are in California but the bank still sees potential for growth in the region. "We look for opportunities in underserved multi-ethnic communities that have a large enough Korean population to serve as a base." New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , where Wilshire acquired Liberty Bank of New York The Bank of New York, abbrieviated to BNY, was a global financial services company that existed until its merger with the Mellon Financial Corporation on July 2, 2007.[1] The bank now continues under the new name of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. , has the second largest Korean population in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. after Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . Philosophy: "Though we are publicly traded and have a nationwide branch network, we have never lost our spirit as a community bank. We have a conservative business philosophy that serves our core niche market A niche market also known as a target market is a focused, targetable portion (subset) of a market sector. By definition, then, a business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers. of first-generation Korean Americans." Importance of Ethnic Banking: "We believe banking is a personal business. The personal touch cannot be done without cultural understanding and we have always had an ethnically mixed management and board." Challenges: How to serve the second generation of Korean Americans. "It is not a big concern yet because of the many Koreans still coming over from mainland Korea and the cash flow they bring. But in five or 10 years, all the ethnic banks serving Korean Americans will have to be concerned about attracting and keeping the second generation. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion