East West Bank Collaborates with Grameen America To Help Underserved Women Entrepreneurs
Maria is a restaurant owner in the Los Angeles community. Photo credit: Juan Alaniz.
Los Angeles, September 19, 2019—East West Bank (“East West” or the “Bank”), the largest independent bank headquartered in Southern California, is collaborating with nonprofit microfinance organization Grameen America, to assist low-income women entrepreneurs access capital and financial services. East West Bank is donating $2 million to assist open and operate the third Grameen America branch in Los Angeles. The Bank also is working with Grameen America to provide microloans in cities where both organizations operate, including Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Houston. In keeping with East West Bank’s legacy of helping underserved communities, the Bank is providing $1.5 million in loan capital to Grameen America’s members to empower them to build and expand their businesses, supporting community revitalization.
Grameen America was founded in 2008 by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus, and the organization provides affordable capital, credit-building, financial education and peer support to entrepreneurial women who live in poverty. Since its founding, Grameen America has served over 120,000 women in 14 U.S. cities, distributed more than $1.24 billion in loans and helped create more than 126,000 jobs. According to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, women receive only four percent of all small business loans from mainstream financial institutions. East West hopes to move the needle on this statistic by working with Grameen America to help more women entrepreneurs obtain the capital to get their small businesses off the ground.
“For more than a decade, Grameen America has been helping low-income women entrepreneurs build their business dreams, which has fueled the prosperity of the U.S. economy and communities,” said Dominic Ng, Chairman, President and CEO at East West Bank. “This collaboration makes it possible for us to help smaller, credit worthy borrowers who wouldn’t typically qualify for loans from a traditional bank to achieve their business goals.”
“East West Bank’s investment in our program is instrumental to our expansion and will amplify our mission to serve low-income entrepreneurial women across the country,” said Andrea Jung, President and CEO at Grameen America. “Financial inclusion can change the lives of women entrepreneurs, and our shared commitment to addressing economic barriers will prove invaluable to the communities we serve.”
About East West Bank
East West Bancorp, Inc. is a publicly traded company with total assets of $42.9 billion and is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “EWBC.” The Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, East West Bank, is a premier bank focused exclusively on the United States and Greater China markets and operates over 130 locations worldwide, including in the United States markets of California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Texas and Washington. In Greater China, East West’s presence includes full service branches in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shantou and Shenzhen, and representative offices in Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Taipei and Xiamen. For more information on East West bank, visit the Company’s website at www.eastwestbank.com.
About Grameen America
Founded by Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus, Grameen America is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit microfinance organization dedicated to helping women who live in poverty build small businesses to create better lives for their families. The organization offers microloans, training and support to transform communities and fight poverty in the United States. Since opening in January 2008, Grameen America has invested over $1.10 billion in more than 116,000 low-income women entrepreneurs. Started in Jackson Heights, Queens, Grameen America has expanded to 14 cities in Austin, TX, Boston, MA, Charlotte, NC, Houston, TX, Indianapolis, IN, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL, Newark, NJ, New York City, NY, Omaha, NE, Oakland, CA, San Jose, CA, San Juan, PR, and Union City, NJ. Learn more at www.grameenamerica.org.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES:
East West Bank
Emily Wang, SVP, Director of Marketing and Community Development
(626) 768-6266
Emily.wang@eastwestbank.com
Grameen America
Jason Grobstein, Director, Marketing & Communications
jgrobstein@grameenamerica.org