Chairman's Message
April 22, 2025
Dear Shareholders,
I am pleased to report that our 2024 net income was $130.7 million or $9.64 per diluted share. Although this is down from 2023 results, 2024 results exceeded both our expectations and the market’s expectations. Our return on equity (“ROE”) and return on assets (“ROA”) were 18.80% and 1.91%, respectively, both top of industry profitability metrics. Preferred Bank remains one of the most profitable banks in all the U.S. for the last several years.
A commercial bank’s profitability is highly affected by the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy. Your management team has been sensitive and proactive to the changes in interest rates. For the year 2024, we were able to outperform both internal and external expectations. In addition, we achieved the following:
- Grew the Bank’s loan and deposits above the industry average
- Controlled our overhead under a highly inflationary environment
- Increased the dividend payout to shareholders
- Repurchased 464,000 shares of our common stock
- Increased the book value of our common stock
- Produced a total shareholder return of 22.1% which is well above our industry average
The year of 2025 will certainly be full of new challenges and much uncertainty, but we will remain vigilant.
Very truly yours,
Li Yu
Chairman of the Board
Chief Executive Officer
