Message from Doreen Woo Ho
Acting President and Chief Executive Officer
October 1, 2009
Dear Valued Customer,
As UCB’s Acting President and CEO, one of my top priorities is to keep our customers updated on important developments at the bank. Over the last several weeks, we have made significant strides in our effort to turn the page and start a “new chapter” in UCB’s history. We are working closely with our regulators to make the bank stronger for the benefit of our customers and other stakeholders in the U.S. and China. Let me briefly summarize the progress we have made in the past few weeks.
Partnership with China Minsheng Bank
I recently returned from China, where I met with the Board and management of our strategic investor, China Minsheng Bank (CMBC). They expressed their continued support of UCB and interest in working together on strategic initiatives and other business synergies.
Currently, a group of 17 young managers from CMBC are visiting our San Francisco headquarters, where they are spending six weeks undergoing both classroom and practical training in various departments of the bank. This collaboration has helped members of both banks deepen our understanding of each other’s business and will help us find new ways to enhance UCB’s high-value products and services.
Capital Plan
We are focused on addressing our capital needs going forward, as we announced in our press release on September 8. To that end, we are aggressively moving forward with our capital plan and have engaged a financial advisor to help us look at all our options. As soon as we have something specific to disclose, we will communicate it publicly to all our customers and other stakeholders.
Financial Restatement & Management Action Plan
In the last few weeks we have aligned our team with our outside auditors at KPMG to work as expeditiously as possible to complete our financial restatement The entire management team is doing its utmost, as are our auditors, to move the bank forward and put us back on a solid foundation for the future.
Community Support
While we are working hard to move the bank forward, all of us at UCB continue to partner with members of our communities in the U.S. and in the Greater China Region to meet the banking needs of our customers in all of the regions we serve. Two examples stand out.
In Boston, UCB recently helped Chinatown Main Street, a public-private initiative between the City of Boston and the National Trust of Historical Preservation, open an account at our Boston Chinatown Branch to help them support funding of the “2010 Master Plan of Chinatown.” UCB has been a partner with Chinatown Main Street in hosting the street festivals to celebrate Chinese New Year and Autumn Moon Festival in Boston’s Chinatown for many years.
At a recent UCB community dinner in San Francisco’s Chinatown, more than 400 Chinese community leaders and representatives of civic and non-profit organizations in the Bay Area were joined by former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, President of the SF Board of Supervisors David Chiu and Fremont Mayor Bob Wasserman.
Many of the attendees had great stories to share about the ways in which UCB has been there for the San Francisco community over the years. Gordon Chin, Executive Director of Chinatown Community Development Center, mentioned that UCB provides much-needed funding and loans to help build the local community and improve quality of life for residents. Kinson Wong, owner of R&G Lounge, one of the most popular and well known Chinese restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, shared with everyone that the Bank helped him expand his business in the past 20 years by providing him with several rounds of financing.
I know I speak for all UCB associates in saying that we are very proud of this heritage and the relationships we have developed with our customers and leaders in all the communities we serve.
Finally, I want to emphasize that United Commercial Bank is committed to the highest standards of integrity and transparency in all aspects of our business.
Thank you for your continued confidence in us. As always, if you have any questions or comments, please call us at 1-800-821-3899 or email us at comments@unitedcb.com.
Sincerely,
Doreen Woo Ho