Bank of the Orient

Bank of the Orient (建東銀行) is an Asian American bank in the United States. Headquartered in San Francisco, with branch offices in California, Hawaii, and Xiamen, this privately held bank is one of few Asian American banks in the United States that has successfully expanded beyond their original communities. The bank was first established on March 17, 1971. The first solely owned Asian American bank to be launched in California since World War II,[citation needed] 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 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-1990s.