Dominic Ng
Chairman, President and CEO
of East West Bank
Interview by AC Team's Mario Machado

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     Dominic Ng is the Chairman, President and CEO of East West Bank, one of the nations largest Asian American Banks and the fourth largest bank headquartered in Southern California.

     A native of Hong Kong, Ng came to the United States in 1977 and earned his BA degree at the University of Houston. He started his career in Deloitte & Touche, and after 10 years there, he joined one of his Asian clients and became President and CEO of Seyen Investment, Inc., an US investment arm of a large Asian conglomerate. At Seyen, Ng acquired East West Bank from Talley Industries, and helped the institution raise assets to over $1 billion through further acquisitions.

     In October 1992, Dominic Ng became President and CEO of East West bank. At the age of 33, he was the youngest CEO amongst all the financial institutions with assets over $1 billion in California. In June 1998, Ng raised $238 million capital within three weeks through private placement to acquire East West Bank from his former shareholders. He then took East West Bank public in February 1999, currently listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol "EWBC."

     Today East West Bank is ranked as one of America's Top 100 fastest growing companies by "Individual Investor Magazine" as well as a top five bank in California in terms of size, return of equity and capital rating by the Los Angeles Business Journal. Under Dominic Ng's leadership, the bank has grown rapidly, more than tripling its asset size to $2.1 billion.

Mario:  What does an event like this mean to the business community at large and specifically the Asian American, Asian business community?

Dominic:  I think this is important, because first of all, we have many of the top leaders in the Asian community that gather at this event, and they are going to cover quite a bit of different type of topics. And it also serves as a great opportunity for many of the business folks in Los Angeles to have an opportunity to network with many of the very prominent and significant leaders in this country.

Mario:  Where are fortunes yet to be made? We've got Jerry Yang's Yahoo! and people like Charles Wang of Computer Associates, people who have made money in the high tech business - is that where the fertile ground is?

Dominic:  Clearly that is still going very strong, and I think there will be many more years to come. I do believe that biotech is another area that is coming on very strong. But the fundamental issue really is that if we look at Committee of 100 members, many of them are entrepreneurs.

The bottom line is really entrepreneurialship, as long as people have a great idea, it really doesn't matter whether it is high tech, biotech, or a restaurant business.  You know, as long as people have an entrepreneurial spirit and think big, have a great vision and execute it well, they are going to make it happen.

Mario:  How does one present themselves to a banker like yourself, a legitimate banker or a venture capitalist and say, "Hey, I've got a great idea, listen to me, give me some money?"

Dominic:  At our bank, we spend a lot of time to helping many of our clients who are in this business, and our role at East West Bank is serving as a financial bridge between the East and the West. Frankly, what we look at is that, we have within our bank, we have tremendous resources in terms of having the connection in the Pacific Rim, in Asia in particular, and also we have plenty of contacts with the mainstream communities.

If we take a look at venture capital for example, we have plenty of good contacts with the venture capitalists and the investment bankers. And at the same token, we also have a pretty good pipeline of where all the companies are, so our role at the bank is trying to be the link or the bridge, that's what we like to call ourselves, to connect the two together.

Mario:  Is Asia the new pot of gold, or is there still a lot of fertile fields to be tilled here in domestic USA?

Dominic:  I do feel that Asia has plenty of opportunities, but US is going on very strong right now. If you look at the California economy particularly, it is going on very strong. So actually with the Asian crisis kind of being over back in '97 and '98 and now Asia is coming back again, I think California, being the hub of the Pacific Rim, it's just naturally positioned to do very well in the future.

Mario:  Is it limited to just the young people?  This is a wonderful opportunity for young people, or is it for all players?

Dominic:  I do think that this is for all players. In fact if you look at the technology field, many of the CEO's that have been brought in by these young entrepreneurs are very seasoned, experienced business leaders. I think the key really is the mindset. As long as anybody has a fresh mind and feel young and vibrant, they can be successful. Age is really not an issue.

Mario:  Thank you, Dominic Ng.

Dominic:  Thank you.

- End of Transcript -

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