News Details

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- OP Bancorp (the “Company”) (NASDAQ: OPBK), parent company of Open Bank, today reported:

Sang K. Oh, President and Chief Executive Officer:

“Our fourth-quarter results highlight the continued strength and resilience of our Company. Net interest income increased 3%, and a more favorable economic outlook resulted in a 61% reduction in provision for credit losses while maintaining an adequate reserve level against credit risk. As a result, net income rose 5%, and diluted EPS also increased $0.02 to $0.47. On the balance sheet, average loans grew 3% and average deposits increased 2%, demonstrating the ongoing trust of our customers and the effectiveness of our relationship-driven approach. Asset quality remained stable, and our capital position stayed robust, underscoring the soundness of our risk management framework. As we close out 2025, we remain focused on executing our strategic priorities, supporting our customers and communities, and delivering long-term value for our shareholders,” said Sang K. Oh, President and Chief Executive Officer.

INCOME STATEMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Net Interest Income and Net Interest Margin

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Third Quarter 2025

Net interest income increased by $517 thousand, or 3%, primarily driven by loan growth. This increase was partially offset by higher expense associated with the issuance of a new subordinated note and lower yields on the Federal Reserve account. Net interest margin contracted by 1 basis point to 3.25%.

• Loans: Interest income increased by $920 thousand, largely attributable to a $72.0 million increase in average loan balances.
• Cash and Cash Equivalents: Interest income decreased by $142 thousand, mainly due to a 46 basis point reduction in yields, reflecting the lower rates on the Federal Reserve account following recent rate cuts.
• Deposits: Interest expense decreased slightly by $118 thousand, primarily due to a 10 basis point reduction in interest-bearing deposit costs, reflecting the repricing of deposit products following the decline in the federal funds rate. This benefit was mostly offset by a $31.6 million increase in average interest-bearing deposit balances.
• Subordinated Note: Interest expense was $278 thousand, attributable to the issuance of $25 million in subordinated debt in November 2025.

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Fourth Quarter 2024

Net interest income increased by $3.9 million, or 23%. The increase was largely due to loan growth and lower deposit rates. These changes were partially offset by interest-bearing deposit growth. Net interest margin rose 29 basis points to 3.25%.

• Loans: Interest income increased by $4.2 million, largely driven by a $256.6 million increase in average loan balances.
• Deposits: Interest expense increased by $142 thousand, mainly driven by a $246.0 million increase in average interest-bearing deposit balances. This increase was mostly offset by a 63 basis point reduction in interest-bearing deposit costs, resulting from the repricing of time deposits in response to the federal funds rate cuts.

Provision for Credit Losses

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Third Quarter 2025

Provision for credit losses on loans decreased by $688 thousand, primarily driven by an improved qualitative outlook and lower net charge-offs, partially offset by higher quantitative reserves associated with risk-rating downgrades.

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Fourth Quarter 2024

Provision for credit losses on loans decreased by $1.3 million, primarily due to an improved qualitative outlook and lower specific reserves, partially offset by higher quantitative reserves resulting from risk-rating downgrades.

Noninterest Income

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Third Quarter 2025

Noninterest income decreased by $712 thousand, or 17%, primarily due to lower gains on sale of loans and service charges on deposits.

• Gains on Sale of Loans: Decreased by $464 thousand, primarily driven by lower SBA loan sale activity. During the quarter, the Bank sold $28.5 million in SBA loans at an average premium rate of 6.98%, compared to $36.8 million sold at an average premium rate of 6.71% in the prior period.
• Service Charges on Deposits: Decreased by $263 thousand, primarily due to the closure of certain currency exchange-related accounts in the third quarter of 2025 and reduced balances in existing business analysis accounts.

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Fourth Quarter 2024

Noninterest income decreased by $999 thousand, or 23%, primarily due to lower gains on sale of loans and service charges on deposits.

• Gains on Sale of Loans: Decreased by $624 thousand, primarily driven by lower SBA loan sale activity. During the quarter, the Bank sold $28.5 million in SBA loans at an average premium rate of 6.98%, compared to $34.7 million sold at an average premium rate of 7.82% in the prior period
• Service Charges on Deposits: Decreased by $505 thousand, largely driven by lower balances in existing business analysis account and closure of certain currency exchange-related accounts in the third quarter of 2025.

Noninterest Expense

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Third Quarter 2025

Noninterest expense increased by $664 thousand, or 5%, primarily driven by higher salaries and employee benefits, data processing and communication, and occupancy and equipment. These increases were partially offset by lower other expenses, and promotion and advertising.

• Salaries and Employee Benefits: Increased by $352 thousand, primarily due to higher incentive accruals driven by stronger SBA loan production.
• Data Processing and Communication: Increased by $328 thousand, primarily due to adjustments associated with conversion credits from a new core system vendor.
• Occupancy and equipment: Increased by $243 thousand, primarily due to the end of a common area maintenance concession on a lease that benefited the prior period.
• Other Expenses: Decreased by $221 thousand, primarily due to lower business development expenses.

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Fourth Quarter 2024

Noninterest expense increased by $1.2 million, or 9%, primarily due to higher salaries and employee benefits.

• Salaries and Employee Benefits: Increased by $967 thousand, mainly driven by staffing growth and annual salary adjustments effective April 2025. Higher incentive accruals further contributed to the increase.

Income Tax Expense

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Third Quarter 2025

Income tax expense decreased by $503 thousand to $2.5 million, with the effective tax rate declining to 25.9% from 30.7%. The decreases were primarily driven by a one-time revaluation of deferred tax assets in the prior period, resulting from the adoption of the California’s single sales factor apportionment method and the implementation of an enhanced interim state tax apportionment methodology.

Fourth Quarter 2025 vs. Fourth Quarter 2024

Income tax expense increased by $771 thousand to $2.5 million, with the effective tax rate rising to 25.9% from 25.4%. The increase in income tax expense was primarily attributable to higher pre-tax income.

BALANCE SHEET HIGHLIGHTS

Loans

The following table presents loan originations and the corresponding weighted average contractual rates for the periods indicated:

The following table summarizes the loan activity for the periods indicated:

The following table presents the composition of gross loans by interest rate type accompanied with the weighted average contractual rates as of the periods indicated:

The following table presents the maturity of gross loans by interest rate type accompanied with the weighted average contractual rates for the periods indicated:

Allowance for Credit Losses

The following table summarizes the activity in the allowance for credit losses for the periods presented:

Asset Quality

Credit quality remained strong during the period, with nonperforming loans at a low 0.64% of gross loans and annualized net recoveries at just 0.03%. The allowance remained adequate at 1.28% of gross loans.

• Accruing loans 30-89 days past due increased by $906 thousand, primarily driven by $3.6 million inflows into this category, mainly SBA loans. This increase was partially offset by $1.5 million in payoffs from SBA and C&I loans, as well as $1.0 million transfer to nonaccrual status in SBA and home mortgage loans.
• Nonperforming loans increased by $1.8 million, reflecting the migration of $3.2 million in loans across multiple loan categories to nonaccrual status, partially offset by the return of a $1.4 million home mortgage loan to accrual status.
• Criticized loans increased by $4.0 million, primarily attributable to $5.2 million in loan downgrades, partially offset by the same $1.4 million home mortgage loan returning to accrual status as discussed above.

Deposits

As of December 31, 2025 vs. September 30, 2025

Total deposits increased by $7.1 million, primarily driven by a $45.1 million increase in time deposits, partially offset by a $23.1 million decrease in noninterest-bearing deposits, and a $14.8 million decrease in money market deposits and others. The increase in time deposits reflects new retail customers opening CD accounts and a rise in wholesale CD balances to support loan growth. The declines in noninterest-bearing and money market deposits were primarily attributable to reductions in existing customer balances, reflecting customers’ liquidity and investment preferences.

As of December 31, 2025 vs. December 31, 2024

Total deposits increased by $253.3 million or 12%, primarily driven by growth of $178.4 million in time deposits and $59.0 million in money market deposits and others. The increase in time deposits was largely due to new customers opening CD accounts, reflecting a preference for higher-yielding products, along with higher wholesale CD balances. Similarly, the expansion in money market deposits and others was mainly driven by inflows from new customers and increased wholesale money market balances.

The following table sets forth the maturity of time deposits as of December 31, 2025:

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Liquidity

The Company maintains ample access to liquidity, including highly liquid assets on our balance sheet and available unused borrowings from other financial institutions. The following table presents the Company's liquid assets and available borrowings as of dates presented:

Capital and Capital Ratios

On January 22, 2026, the Company’s Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share of its common stock. The dividend is payable on or about February 19, 2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 5, 2026. The principal source of funds from which the Company pays dividends are the dividends received from the Bank. During the fourth quarter of 2025, no shares were repurchased under the repurchase program approved in August 2025.

On November 7, 2025, the Company issued a $25 million subordinated note. This qualifies as Tier 2 capital at the consolidated level and Tier 1 capital at the bank level under current regulatory guidelines and interpretations.

ABOUT OP BANCORP

OP Bancorp, the holding company for Open Bank (the “Bank”), is a California corporation whose common stock is quoted on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker symbol, “OPBK.” The Bank operates general commercial banking business in Los Angeles, Orange, and Santa Clara Counties in California, the Dallas metropolitan area in Texas, and Clark County in Nevada, serving small- and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and local residents with a particular focus on Korean and other Asian communities. The Bank currently operates twelve full-service branch offices in Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles Fashion District, Los Angeles Koreatown, Cerritos, Gardena, Buena Park, Garden Grove and Santa Clara, California, Carrollton, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bank also has five loan production offices in Pleasanton, California, Atlanta, Georgia, Aurora, Colorado, Lynnwood, Washington, and Fairfax, Virginia. The Bank commenced its operations on June 10, 2005 as First Standard Bank and changed its name to Open Bank in October 2010. Its headquarters is located at 1000 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Los Angeles, California 90017. Phone 213.892.9999; www.myopenbank.com.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain matters set forth herein constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Rule 3b-6 promulgated thereunder. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking, and readers should not construe these statements of assurances of expected or intended results, or of promises that management will take a given course of action or pursue the currently expected strategies and objectives. Forward-looking statements in this report include comments about the Company’s current business plans and expectations regarding future operating results, as well as management’s statements about expected future events and economic developments, plans, strategies and objectives. All such statements reflect the current intentions, beliefs and expectations of the Company’s executive management based on currently available information and current and expected market conditions. Forward-looking statements can sometimes be identified by the use of forward-looking language, such as “likely result in,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “forecasts,” “projects,” “intends to,” or may include other similar words or phrases, such as “believes,” “plans,” “trend,” “objective,” “continues,” “remains,” or similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs, such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “might,” “can,” or similar verbs. Readers should not construe these statements as assurances of a given level of performance, or as promises that we will take the actions our management currently expects.

Our forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those projected or could cause us to change plans or strategies or otherwise to take actions that differ from those we currently expect. The known risks and uncertainties that may have these effects are described in Part II, Item 1A, of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2025, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to those risks, we may face risks from increased interest expense and increased leverage in light of our issuance of $25 million in principal amount of subordinated note in November 2025. You should read all forward-looking statements in the context of the foregoing and should not consider them to be reliable predictions of future events or as assurances of a particular level of performance or intended course of action. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.