AGM 2021

May 18, 2021

Good afternoon and welcome to the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of the United States of America Merrill Bank Company. I would now like to introduce the first presenter, Danson Cheng, Executive Chairman of the Board of the company. Thank you very much. Good afternoon and welcome to the 2021 annual meeting of shareholders of sorry, Cathay General Bangkok. I am Dyson Chang, Executive Chairman of the Board of the company and will preside at this meeting today. It is now shortly after 5 Pacific Time on May 17th and this meeting is officially called to order. Our Corporate Secretary, Ms. Fei Chang will act as Secretary of the Beijing. We are also being assisted today by Ms. Crystal Powley from American Election Services, who will serve as the proxy tabulation agent and Inspector of Elections. I would like to introduce the directors that are joining us today. Mr. Nelson Michonne, our Lead Independent Director Kelly Chang, Chairman of the Audit Committee Mr. Felix Fernandez, Chairman of the Investment Committee Mr. Joe Poon, Chairman of the Nomination and Governance Committee Mr. Richard Sun, chairman of the compensation committee, Ms. Manhui Feng and Mr. Michael Chang. Mr. Michael Chang's term will expire at this visit. With profound regret, the Board was informed that Mr. Chang has chosen not to stand for another term. Mr. Chang joined our Board in 1983 and has served in every committee of the Board. I wish to express my deep appreciation to Mr. Chang for his contributions and dedication to Catharine Bank. And now I would like to introduce the current directors and this year's director nominees today. Ms. Jane Gilenko, Chairwoman of Risk Committee Mr. Tony Tang, Vice Chairman of the Board Mr. Peter Wu, also Vice Chairman of the Board Ms. Sherry Wen, who is not currently a Director, or the director nominee and Mr. Chang Liu, President of CEO of the company. We have 3 executive officers that are here today. Mr. Hen Chang, EVP and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. King Bing Ng, EVP and Chief Risk Officer. Mr. Mark Lee, EVP and Chief Credit Officer of Zabatic. And we are also joined by representatives of KPMG, our independent auditor and Mr. Ben Chong of Morrison and Foster, the company's SEC Council. And now, I would like to turn the floor to our President and CEO, Mr. Cheng Lu to proceed to the business of the media. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before we go further, I want to remind everyone that we may make forward looking statements during this meeting. Actual results can differ materially, and you should refer to our filings with the SEC for factors that could cause such results to differ. The Secretary of the meeting will now report on the mailing of notice of this meeting in the presence of the Board. Thank you, Mr. President. The meeting is held pursuant to a notice mailed on April 15, 2021, to each stockholder of record as of April 1, 2021. A list of stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting is available for examination. It has also been on file at the office of the company for the last 10 days and available for examination by any stockholder during ordinary business hours. I've been advised by the Inspector of Elections that immediately prior to the commencement of the meeting, 84.49% of the company's issued and outstanding shares of common stock are represented in person or by proxy at today's meeting. Since the majority of the company's outstanding shares of common stock is represented today in person or by proxy, a quorum is present. The meeting is duly constituted and the business of the meeting may proceed. Thank you. I now declare that there is a quorum for the transaction of business and pass the secretary to insert the notice of the meeting and the affidavit of mailing of the notice in the minute book of the company. If any stockholder would like to make a comment or ask a question regarding any of the proposals to be voted upon, please submit your comment or question through the web portal now. Ms. Secretary, please present before the meeting the proposals to be delivered upon today. Thank you. Proposal 1 is the election of 4 Class 1 directors to serve until the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and 1 Class 2 director to serve to service until the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and their successors have been elected and qualified. To rebalance the classes of directors, Mr. Liu, whose term as a Class 1 Director expires at this 2021 Annual Meeting, has been nominated to become a Class 2 Director and if elected will serve for the remainder of the Class 2 term, which will expire next year at our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The Board nominees for Class 1 Directors are James Zielenko, Anthony M Tang, Shelley Wang and Peter Wu. The Board nominee for Class 2 Director is Chang An Liu. The Board of Directors unanimously recommends that you work for each nominee. Proposal 2 is to vote for an advisory non binding resolution to approve our executive compensation disclosed in the proxy statement. The Board of Directors unanimously recommends that you vote for this proposal. Proposal number 3 is to ratify the appointment of KPMG LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the 2021 fiscal year. The Board of Directors unanimously recommends that you vote for this proposal. Thank you. If there are any remaining questions, comments regarding any of the proposals, please submit them now if you have not done so already. Seeing that there are no more questions or comments, we will now proceed to voting. It is 5:0:8 Pacific Time on May 17, 2021, and the polls are now open. Any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have already mailed in their proxies or voted via telephone or Internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. Now that everyone has had an opportunity to vote, I now declare the votes closed at 5:0:9 Pacific Time on May 17, 2021. Ms. Secretary, please present a report of the preliminary voting results. Thank you, Mr. President. Proposal 1, Election of Directors. On the Election of Directors, I've been advised by the Inspector of Elections that each nominee has received a majority of the votes cast at this meeting. Accordingly, Jane Jalenko, Anthony M. Tang, Shelley Wang and Peter Wu have been elected as Class 1 Directors to serve until the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. And Chang An Lu has been elected as a Class 2 Director to serve until the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and their successors have been elected and qualified. Proposal 2, executive compensation. On the advisory non binding resolution to approve our executive compensation disclosed in the proxy statement, it has received an affirmative vote of holders of the majority of the shares of Bancorp's common stock present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the meeting. Accordingly, the advisory non binding resolution on our executive compensation has been approved. Proposal 3, KPMG ratification. With respect to the ratifying of the appointment of KPMG, it has received an affirmative vote of the holders of the majority of the shares of BanCorp's common stock present in person or represented by proxy and entitled to vote at the meeting. Accordingly, the appointment of KPMG as our independent registered public accounting firm for the 2021 fiscal year has been ratified. The inspection of the elections will furnish me as secretary with a written report of the final vote count with respect to the matters voted on today, which shall be included in the minutes of the meeting. There has been no further business to come before the meeting. The formal part of the stockholders' meeting is now adjourned. Our Executive Chairman will now say a few words on our incoming board leadership. Thank you, Mr. Liu. Before I do that, I was at least not recognizing another senior officer in the meeting if it's James Haney, executive vice president and chief leading officer. So if you have heard from the results of the shareholders' votes, we have a new board member. I want to welcome Ms. Shelly Wang to our board and we look forward to working with her in years to come. I will now turn the floor back to Mr. Liu to conclude this meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to provide a brief overview of the company's performance this past year. For 2020, we reported a net income of $228,900,000 and earnings of $2.87 per diluted share. Gross loans increased by 3.8 percent or $568,900,000 to 15,600,000,000 primarily a result of Paycheck Protection Program loans and commercial mortgage loans. Net charge offs remained low at 0.09%. Total deposits grew 9.6 percent or $1,400,000,000 to 16,100,000,000. As of December 31, 2020, total assets increased by 5.2 percent to RMB 19,000,000,000 Undoubtedly, it was an unprecedented year with challenges of a global pandemic, economic upheaval, political turmoil and social injustice. While some sectors have been hit hard, other industries have remained resilient. Our capital remains strong and will capitalize under the Basel III capital rules. Cathay Bank has consistently placed as one of the top 20 banks listed under Forbes Best Banks in America. We will continue to thrive for effective credit quality management, improvement in operational efficiency and maximization of shareholder value. One of the few bright spots about the pandemic is that it can reveal what you are truly made of. For us, it has shown that we have the people and financial strength to continue to serve our customers well under extraordinary circumstances. In October of last year, the Board entrusted me with the President and CEO position. I have profound respect for the work and foundation built by my predecessors, and I will do my utmost to carry on this legacy. Thank you for continuing to join us along this journey and for attending this year's Annual Stock. Over to you. Thank you. The 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Cathay General Bancorp has now come to an end. Thank you for attending. You may now leave the virtual meeting.