Cathay General Bancorp Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

Cathay General Bancorp (Nasdaq: CATY), the holding company for Cathay Bank, has announced its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, reporting net income of $69.5 million, or $0.98 per diluted share.

Key Financial Highlights:
Net income decreased from $80.2 million in Q4 2024 to $69.5 million.

Net interest income before credit losses rose to $176.6 million from $171.0 million.

Return on average assets was 1.22%, and return on equity was 9.84%.

Efficiency ratio slightly improved to 45.60%.

Net interest margin increased to 3.25% from 3.07%.

Total loans (excluding held-for-sale) decreased slightly to $19.35 billion.

Total deposits rose to $19.82 billion.

Operational and Strategic Developments:
The company completed a $125 million share repurchase program, buying back 876,906 shares at an average price of $46.83.

The provision for credit losses increased to $15.5 million, and the allowance for loan losses rose to $173.9 million, or 0.90% of gross loans.

Non-performing assets fell 11.5% to $173.7 million, indicating improving asset quality.

The effective tax rate increased to 19.82%, up from 7.57% in the prior quarter, largely due to tax credit timing.

Capital Position:
The company remains well-capitalized with:

Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio: 13.57%

Total risk-based capital ratio: 15.19%

Tier 1 leverage ratio: 11.06%

Tangible equity stood at $2.49 billion with a tangible equity-to-assets ratio of 10.89%.