RBB Bancorp

RBB Bancorp

RBB Bancorp was established in 2008 as the holding company for Royal Business Bank, a commercial bank founded to serve the Asian-American community in Southern California. David Morris has led the institution through a period of asset accumulation that turned a small community bank into a publicly traded entity with a market capitalization reflecting a notably conservative credit culture. The wealth-origin narrative is institutional rather than familial; the bank was capitalized by local investors and subsequently listed on the Nasdaq. The bank's strategy centers on commercial real estate, C&I lending, and SBA loans, with a geographic footprint concentrated in California, New York, and Nevada. Its deployment model relies heavily on single-family residential mortgages tailored to immigrant communities alongside CRE concentration in urban infill locations. Notably, the bank expanded its New York presence through acquisitions — particularly the 2016 acquisition of Manhattan-based First American International Bank, which deepened its reach within the broader Chinese diaspora. As a publicly traded community bank, RBB Bancorp's scale is modest but its structural posture as a minority depository institution (MDI) provides regulatory capital and Community Reinvestment Act incentives that larger regional banks cannot replicate. The firm's recent activities have focused on balance-sheet defense and credit quality. In mid-2024, the bank repurchased a substantial portion of its own shares below tangible book value, signaling a defensive capital allocation posture amid a tougher rate environment. RBB Bancorp's structural differentiator is its public listing combined with its MDI designation. While many community banks remain private or are subsumed by larger regionals, RBB occupies a specific niche: a Nasdaq-listed depository that retains the cultural mandate and the Community Reinvestment Act advantages of serving a defined ethnic community. This gives deposit sticks a quality not easily replicated by non-focused competitors.