Garden Grove-based US Metro Bank has hired a new chief executive to oversee its bid to work through a consent order issued recently by regulators.
US Metro, which primarily serves Korean-American businesses, has seen increasing levels of problem loans lately.
It tapped Jung Chan Chang, a veteran of Pacific City Bank and Hanmi Bank—both Korean-American institutions based in Los Angeles—as chief executive last month.
Chang has a three-year contract. He takes the place of William Im, who left US Metro in May.
The bank has about $87.5 million in total assets, and counts $6 million worth of troubled loans, according to the most recent data available, up from $2.2 million a year earlier.
The bank lost $1.4 million in the third quarter, a swing from a $250,000 profit in the year-earlier quarter.
The consent order from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and California Department of Financial Institutions calls for the bank to submit strategic plans to reduce loan-portfolio risks within the next two weeks.
US Metro borrowed more than $2.8 million from the U.S. Treasury in 2009 under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. It has so far paid about $433,000 in interest.
