📋 What This Document Is 📰

This filing is an 8-K report, a type of mandatory SEC filing, which serves as a press release announcing Hanmi Financial Corporation's (HAFC) financial results for the first quarter of 2026. It is meant to give investors and the public a detailed snapshot of the bank's financial health and performance during that three-month period.

👉 You should expect to find a deep dive into their revenue streams, their assets (loans), their liabilities (deposits), and their strategic outlook for the year.

🏦 What Hanmi Financial Does 🏘️

Hanmi Financial Corporation is the parent company of Hanmi Bank. The bank operates through a network of 32 full-service branches and eight loan production offices, primarily serving multi-ethnic communities across states like California, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, and New York.

👉 In simple terms, Hanmi Bank is a community and commercial bank that specializes in extending credit and providing financial services—specifically targeting real estate, commercial, SBA (Small Business Administration), and trade finance lending to small and middle-market businesses.

📈 Financial Performance Highlights ✨

The bank reported strong overall financial results for Q1 2026. Net income increased by 6.2%, and key profitability ratios saw healthy improvements compared to the previous quarter.

• Net Income: Total net income for the first quarter was $22.6 million, or $0.75 per diluted share. This represents a 6.2% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.
• Returns: Profitability metrics improved significantly: the return on average assets was 1.18% (up from 1.07% in Q4 2025), and the return on average equity was 10.86% (up from 10.14% in Q4 2025).
• Capital Return: Hanmi returned capital to its shareholders by paying dividends of $8.6 million and conducting share repurchases totaling $4.8 million.

🎙️ Management's Strategic View 👀

CEO Bonnie Lee provided commentary that highlighted the success of the bank’s relationship-driven model and pointed to sustained positive trends.

“We saw several positive trends, including 7.2% annualized deposit growth, net interest margin expansion, and stable expense levels,” said Bonnie Lee, President and CEO.

👉 Lee emphasized that the combination of growing deposits, expanding margins, and controlling costs was the primary driver of the strong 6.2% growth in net income. She also noted the bank’s success in diversifying its loan portfolio, where Commercial and Industrial (C&I) loans increased 64% in production from new banking relationships, bringing them to 17.6% of total loans.

💰 Interest Income Trends 💹

The core business of a bank is managing interest income and expense. For Q1 2026, the bank saw growth in its net interest income (NII) and improvements in its interest rates.

• Net Interest Income (NII): NII increased by 0.5% to $63.2 million, up from $62.9 million in Q4 2025. This growth was mainly attributed to lower interest expenses on the bank's own deposits.
• Net Interest Margin (NIM): The NIM, which measures the bank's effective profit per dollar of assets, improved by ten basis points to 3.38% (up from 3.28% in Q4 2025). This improvement was primarily due to the cost of interest-bearing deposits declining by 16 basis points.
• Average Yields: The average yield on new loans for the quarter was 5.90%. The average balance of total loans was $6.43 billion, representing a minor decrease of 0.3% from the prior quarter.

💸 Revenue and Expense Control ✂️

Hanmi managed both its operational costs and its non-interest income effectively, contributing to the overall profit increase.

• Noninterest Income: This category includes fees and gains from sales, and it rose by 2.9% to $8.5 million from $8.3 million in Q4 2025. The main contributor was a $0.3 million increase in gains from the sale of SBA loans.
• Noninterest Expense: Total noninterest expense was $38.4 million, marking a 1.9% decrease compared to $39.1 million in Q4 2025. This decline was partly due to recording income on the sale of foreclosed properties, contrasted with an expense recorded in Q4 2025.
• Efficiency Ratio: The efficiency ratio (which measures operating costs relative to income) declined to 53.48% for the quarter, down from 54.95% in the prior quarter. A lower ratio generally indicates better cost control relative to revenue generated.

🤝 Deposit and Loan Portfolio Health 🏦

These sections provide deep dives into the bank’s primary sources of funds (deposits) and where it has allocated its capital (loans).

💵 Deposit Growth and Composition

The bank’s deposit base grew steadily, adding stability and cash for lending. Total deposits reached $6.80 billion, up $123.0 million, or 1.8%, from the previous quarter.

• Growth Drivers: The growth was driven by increases in both time deposits and money market and savings deposits.
• Composition: Noninterest-bearing demand deposits made up 29.9% of total deposits at the end of the quarter. The loan-to-deposit ratio was 96.2%, indicating a healthy balance between lending and deposited funds.

🏘️ Loan Portfolio Mix

Hanmi’s lending activities show a steady, strategic push toward commercial enterprise lending. Total loans held for investment reached $6.55 billion, remaining stable (-0.3%) compared to the prior quarter.

• Commercial & Industrial (C&I) Focus: The proportion of C&I loans increased to 17.6% of total loans, up from 16.4%. Crucially, new C&I loan production increased 64% from new relationships.
• Major Loan Types: The largest portion of the loan portfolio remains in commercial real estate loans (61.0%).
• New Lending Activity: Total new loan production was $377.9 million. Commercial and industrial loans were the largest source of new capital, totaling $134.7 million.

🚨 Credit Risk and Asset Quality 🛡️

Any bank must be highly attentive to the quality of its loans. The filings reveal that Hanmi maintained excellent asset quality and improved key risk metrics during the quarter.

• Nonperforming Assets (NPA): Total NPAs were $12.4 million, representing 0.16% of total assets. This was a decrease from $20.1 million, or 0.26% of total assets, in the fourth quarter of 2025.
• Nonperforming Loans (NPL): Nonperforming loans to total loans were 0.19%, an improvement of 0.09% from the prior quarter.
• Credit Loss Expense: The credit loss expense recorded for Q1 2026 was $2.9 million, compared with $1.9 million in Q4 2025. This covered loan losses and off-balance sheet provisions.

👑 Capital Strength & Governance ✨

The bank demonstrated its strong financial footing by reporting solid capital ratios and executing shareholder returns.

• Capital Ratios: Hanmi Financial reported robust capital positions. The Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio stood at 12.20%, improving 0.15% from the previous quarter.
• Capital Reserves: The bank also confirmed that both Hanmi Financial and Hanmi Bank exceeded minimum regulatory capital requirements, staying well within the "well capitalized" category.
• Equity and Shareholder Actions: Stockholders' equity was $802.8 million as of March 31, 2026. The bank’s focus on returning capital was demonstrated by the $8.6 million dividend paid and $4.8 million returned via share repurchases.

ℹ️ Regulatory and Operational Details 🗺️

This section summarizes the technical details concerning the bank's structure and financial reporting measures.

• California Branch Network: Hanmi Bank operates across multiple states, including California, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, New York, Colorado, Washington, and Georgia, utilizing its network of 32 full-service branches.
• Stock Repurchases: In Q1 2026, Hanmi repurchased 185,707 shares of common stock at an average price of $25.89.
• Tax Rate: The effective tax rate was 26.0% in Q1 2026, compared with 29.5% in Q4 2025. The filing explained this drop was due to the tax benefit from vesting performance stock units and a year-over-year change in the State of California apportionment calculation.

📞 Contact and Next Steps 📅

For those interested in following the company's progress, key details regarding future information and direct contact methods are provided.

• Earnings Call: Hanmi Bank will host its first quarter 2026 earnings conference call on April 21, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. PST (5:00 p.m. EST).
• Webcasting: The call will be webcasted, and recordings will be available via the Investor Relations website at https://investors.hanmi.com/.
• Investor Contact: For direct inquiries, the call can be accessed by dialing 1-877-407-9039 before 2:00 p.m. PST, using the access code Hanmi Bank.

🧠 The Analogy 🚂

Think of Hanmi Bank as a high-quality, local commuter train. When economic times are good, the train runs smoothly: people have money to buy homes (CRE loans), small businesses get loans to expand (C&I loans), and people keep their wages deposited (deposits). The bank then takes the deposits and loans out new money, keeping its costs low enough (efficiency ratio) to ensure that the train owner (Hanmi) is financially healthy and can continue paying dividends to shareholders.

🧩 Final Takeaway 🚀

Hanmi reported a quarter of strong, managed growth, driven by continued loan and deposit expansion and effective cost control. The bank’s focus on strengthening its balance sheet and improving its loan mix positions it well to sustain its growth strategy.