Wilshire Bancorp Inc (WIBC) SEC Filing 10-K Annual report for the fiscal year ending Saturday, December 31, 2011

Exhibit 99.1

Wilshire Bancorp Reports Net Income of $5.8 Million or

$0.08 Earnings per Share for Fourth Quarter 2011

LOS ANGELES, January 23, 2012 - Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIBC), the holding company (“the Company”) for Wilshire State Bank (“the Bank”), today reported net income available to common shareholders of $5.8 million, or $0.08 per diluted common share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2011.  This compares to a net loss available to common shareholders of $40.3 million, or ($1.37) per diluted common share, for the same period of the prior year, and net income available to common shareholders of $10.2 million, or $0.14 per diluted common share, for the third quarter of 2011.  The decrease in earnings per share from the third quarter of 2011 is attributable to a higher effective tax rate recorded in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Jae Whan (J.W.) Yoo, President and CEO of Wilshire Bancorp, said, “We are pleased to deliver another quarter of solid profitability, which was driven by improved efficiencies and lower credit costs. Compared to the third quarter of 2011, our pre-tax income increased 8%, which reflects the increasing strength in our core operations. We continue to make steady progress on improving our asset quality, which resulted in a 22% decline in non-accrual loans and a 68% decline in charge-offs compared to the prior quarter.

“Our focus for 2012 is to prudently increase our marketing efforts to resume the growth of our franchise.  We are adding to our business development staff and re-engaging our markets with more active lending efforts, including re-opening three loan production offices in Georgia, Washington, and Northern California.  We are optimistic that our increased loan production will generate higher levels of interest income and gains on sales of loans this year, which should enable us to further increase our level of profitability as we move through 2012,” said Mr. Yoo.

Q4 2011 Summary:

·            Net income available to common shareholders of $5.8 million, or $0.08 per share

·            Improvement in asset quality from Q3 2011 to Q4 2011 with a 22% decline in non-accrual loans and a 68% decline in charge-offs

·            Operating efficiency ratio improved to 52.4% from 55.7% in Q3 2011

·            Improved deposit mix with an overall increase in core deposits led by a 9% increase in non-interest bearing accounts

·            Annualized return on average assets of 1.01% and return on average equity of 8.72%

·            All capital ratios strengthened from prior quarter