Hanmi Financial to Close 7 Branches

Hanmi Financial Corp., the largest Korean American bank, said it would close seven of its 27 branches by year-end as a result of its $295-million takeover of rival Pacific Union Bank.

Closures and other cost cuts are expected to save $4 million a year at the parent of L.A.-based Hanmi Bank, said J.W. Yoo, Hanmi’s president and chief executive. About 100 of the current 612 jobs will be eliminated.

Hanmi Bank offices will close in Garden Grove, on Vermont Avenue in Koreatown and at the Koreatown Galleria. Also to be closed are former Pacific Union branches in Silicon Valley, Rowland Heights, downtown L.A. and on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown. Customers’ accounts will be transferred to nearby branches.

E. Scott Reckard