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OP Bancorp
Min Kim founded OP Bancorp in 2005, building a publicly traded Korean-American community bank with $2.1 billion in assets at year-end 2023.
OP Bancorp
Min Kim established OP Bancorp in 2005 as the holding company for Open Bank, which operates primarily as a Korean-American community bank headquartered in Los Angeles. The firm went public on the Nasdaq in 2018, a structural choice that separates it from the typical private family-office model while likely serving as a vehicle for managing and deploying family-linked capital alongside outside shareholders. The bank focuses on serving the Korean-American business community across California, with additional branches in New Jersey, Georgia, and Colorado. The firm deploys capital through Open Bank, concentrating on commercial real estate lending — which constitutes the largest segment of its $2.1 billion asset base — alongside SBA lending, trade finance, and small-business loans. The portfolio is geographically concentrated in Southern California, with meaningful exposure to the Los Angeles metro commercial real estate market. The public structure provides access to equity and deposit capital that private family offices cannot tap, creating a distinct sourcing advantage within its niche. The holding company reported 10 branches across four states as of 2024, with a team of roughly 200 employees (per the firm's annual report, 2024). Chief Executive Officer Min Kim and Chief Financial Officer Christine Oh lead the executive team, which has maintained stability through the post-SPAC IPO era. The bank's public filings show no separate philanthropic foundation or adjacent investment vehicle, though the holding company structure itself creates separation between banking operations and any underlying family capital. The structural differentiator is the public-bank wrapper — OP Bancorp raises deposits and equity in public markets while operating with the concentrated focus of a single-family-backed institution. That hybrid architecture allows it to blend deposit-funded lending with permanent equity capital, a combination unavailable to pure family offices or traditional private lenders. June 2023: Declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share, signaling sustained performance (per the firm's press release, June 2023).
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2005
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Los Angeles
Corporate office
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Principals
Min Kim
President and Chief Executive Officer
Christine Oh
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at OP Bancorp?
Min Kim serves as President and CEO of both OP Bancorp and its subsidiary Open Bank, overseeing all lending and investment strategy. Christine Oh, as CFO, manages financial operations and reporting. Investment decisions — primarily commercial real estate and business loan underwriting — run through the bank's credit committee, a standard community-bank governance structure.
Is OP Bancorp a family office or a bank?
OP Bancorp is structured as a publicly traded bank holding company listed on Nasdaq, not a private single-family office. It operates through Open Bank, a California-chartered commercial bank. Founder Min Kim likely controls significant insider equity — consistent with founder-led public banks that often serve family-capital purposes — but the public structure brings outside shareholders and SEC reporting obligations that private family offices avoid.
What types of assets does OP Bancorp hold?
The company's $2.1 billion in assets consists primarily of commercial real estate loans, SBA-guaranteed loans, trade finance lines, and small-business loans. It also holds investment securities and cash equivalents on its balance sheet, per standard bank regulatory filings. The loan book is concentrated in Southern California, with smaller exposures in New Jersey, Georgia, and Colorado.
How does OP Bancorp source its deal flow?
The bank sources loans primarily through its branch network serving the Korean-American business community in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. Relationship lending — where loan officers develop long-term ties with small-business owners — drives origination rather than intermediated or brokered deal flow. The public-deposit base provides a low-cost funding advantage.
Does OP Bancorp manage external capital or only its own balance sheet?
OP Bancorp manages its own balance sheet capital, funded by deposits and equity. It raised public equity through its 2018 IPO and subsequent offerings, but does not operate as a fund manager for outside institutional investors. The firm deploys capital through lending rather than equity investing, distinguishing it from family offices that take direct equity stakes.
What geographic footprint does OP Bancorp maintain?
The company operates 10 branches across four states: California (primary concentration in the Los Angeles metro area), New Jersey (Fort Lee), Georgia (Duluth), and Colorado (Aurora). Each market serves a Korean-American community hub, per the firm's branch disclosures, though California remains the dominant loan and deposit market.
Who are the co-investors or partners alongside OP Bancorp?
As a public bank holding company, OP Bancorp does not operate with co-investors in the typical private-equity sense. Lending syndications occasionally involve other community or regional banks, but the firm does not disclose named syndicate partners in public filings. The shareholder base is public — anyone who buys Nasdaq-traded shares holds equity alongside the founder.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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