LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2026, 08:05 PDT
Hanmi Financial Corp. climbed in regular Nasdaq trade on Wednesday as a stronger regional-bank group and renewed focus on the Los Angeles bank’s capital return to shareholders lifted the stock.
HAFC climbed $0.54, gaining around 1.8% to $29.98. Shares opened at $29.45 and briefly reached $30.05 earlier. Hanmi’s market cap was about $894 million.
Why now: Hanmi’s second-quarter dividend was scheduled for payment today, lining up with the board’s declared $0.28-per-share cash dividend. The payout goes to common shareholders of record as of May 4, with payment set for May 20, according to a filing.
Banks moved higher, not just Hanmi. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF climbed roughly 2.2%. Hope Bancorp added about 2.2%, Preferred Bank picked up 1.9%, and OP Bancorp was up 1.7%. HAFC’s move kept pace with other smaller banks, not standing out as a fluke.
Hanmi’s first-quarter earnings are in focus. The bank posted net income of $22.6 million, or $0.75 per diluted share. Deposits came in at $6.8 billion, loans at $6.55 billion. Net interest margin reached 3.38%. The number tracks the difference between returns on loans and securities and what Hanmi pays for deposits and funding.
Chief Executive Bonnie Lee said it was a quarter of “strong results,” pointing to “positive trends” in deposits, margin and expenses. Lee said asset quality stayed “excellent,” with nonperforming assets dropping to 0.16% of total assets. Nonperforming assets are loans or assets not making regular payments. Hanmi Financial Corporation
Margin is in focus for investors right now as regional banks still react to interest rate moves. The Federal Reserve calendar listed minutes from the April 28-29 meeting set for release at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday. Those minutes could offer some clues about funding costs and loan demand for the sector.
Hanmi has been changing its loan book, aiming for more commercial and industrial, or C&I, loans instead of property loans. C&I loans made up 17.6% of all loans in the first quarter. The company said C&I loan production jumped 64% from new banking relationships.
But the picture isn’t clear. Hanmi said criticized loans went up to $116.4 million from $97.0 million in the previous quarter, mostly after a $21.2 million downgrade in commercial real estate. Net charge-offs, which are loans written off when not expected to be paid, came in at $2.6 million, or 0.16% annualized.
The company is warning about typical bank risks that could impact results, such as deposit competition, interest rate changes, real-estate prices, credit quality, and cyber or third-party failures. These risks take on more weight when investors are focused on steady dividends and margin gains.
Hanmi Financial, the Los Angeles-based parent of Hanmi Bank, runs 32 full-service branches and eight loan production offices in states like California, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Washington and Georgia. Hanmi targets multi-ethnic communities and lends to small and middle-market businesses, with a focus on real estate, commercial, SBA and trade-finance loans.
Hanmi’s next event is its annual meeting set for May 27 at 10:30 a.m. PDT. The stock probably keeps trading with other regional banks, watching deposit costs and signs of credit stress.
