Hanmi Financial Corporation, the holding company for Hanmi Bank, announced today that Romolo C. Santarosa has been hired by the company and bank to serve as its Senior Executive Vice President, Corporate Finance and Strategy.

In this newly created position, Santarosa will oversee the company's corporate strategy, financial planning and corporate development activities, while providing additional leadership and experience to the Bank's finance and accounting teams.

Santarosa, 58, has over 22 years of experience in banking and financial services. Over his career, he has been responsible for leading and directing growth strategies, cost reduction and process improvement initiatives, technology implementations and capital management. Most recently, since June 2013 he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Opus Bank, where he was responsible for operational and support functions. Prior to this, Santarosa served as the Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer at First California Financial Group, Inc. and its bank subsidiary, First California Bank from November 2002 to May 2013. Before 2002, antarosa served in leadership positions with several financial institutions and was an Audit Senior Manager with Price Waterhouse.He graduated from Ithaca College, with a B.S. in Accounting and a Minor in Mathematics.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Hanmi Financial Corporation owns Hanmi Bank, which serves multi-ethnic communities through its network of 46 full-service branches and 6 loan production offices in California, Texas, Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Washington and Georgia. Hanmi Bank specializes in commercial real estate, C&I, SBA and trade finance lending to small and middle-market businesses.