The first solely owned Asian American bank to be launched in California since World War II, Bank of the Orient was first established in 1971 by Ernest Go, a Chinese Filipino whose family was successful in international banking business. The bank originally served the local Chinese and Asian communities in San Francisco, where most of its branch offices still locate today, and with its success, the bank gradually expanded into Southern California and Hawaii.
Bank of the Orient is one of the first to venture into the growing Chinese market and its Xiamen branch office was in business since the mid 1990’s.