Team members think of Hanmi Financial Corp.'s Small Business Administration lending unit as small but mighty.
Led by executive vice president and chief SBA lending officer Anna Chung, the unit oversees Los Angeles-based Hanmi's Small Business Administration lending operation, a longstanding component of the $7.8 billion-asset company's business model. Hanmi began making 7(a) loans in 1988.
Hanmi's commitment to SBA lending has grown as the company has gotten bigger. Now, the bank's SBA program is poised to make its biggest leap yet, a nationwide expansion program that's gathering steam and appears set to further accelerate in 2026.
"Hanmi opened in 1982, mostly for underbanked, immigrant Korean-American immigrant business owners," Chung told American Banker. 'Forty-three years later, we're serving multiethnic groups in multiple states, [and] we've been talking about going nationwide."
Hanmi has hired several SBA lenders over the past year. It's also working to modernize its SBA lending platform. A critical first step involves fully digitizing the process, from application to disbursement, with an eye toward boosting speed and efficiency and allowing the small business team to serve a larger volume of borrowers.
"These programs will enable us to scale up at our pace and truly offer small business financing nationwide," Chung, who has led Hanmi's SBA team since 2014, said. "We're hoping to cover almost everywhere. It's an exciting time."
Chung's vision involves more than lending. Part of her plan is for Hanmi to establish a team of experts who'll offer technical assistance and advice to startups and less established firms. "We're going to be providing education and access to capital," Chung said. "With this team we'll be able to provide [small businesses] with direction. If they're bankable, we'll find the right way to finance them."
In the meantime, as Hanmi works to streamline workflow, production is already on the upswing.
Midway through August, the small business lending team had booked $148.2 million in 7(a) loans, according to SBA. The total exceeded the 7(a) lending volume for all 12 months of SBA's 2024 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, 2024. A robust pipeline prompted Hanmi to increase its quarterly production goal for the second half of 2025 by about 10%, from $45 million to $50 million.
Hanmi sells much of its SBA production to investors, generating a steady stream of noninterest income — $4.2 million through the first half of 2025. An uptick in volume would likely pay off in a substantial fee-income increase. The 7(a) program guarantees loans that participating lenders make to small business entrepreneurs.
Improved technology should also enable the Small Business Lending Team to sharpen its focus on relationship baking, SVP and regional sales manager Laura Kim told American Banker. "I take pride in being the single point of contact for my customers from start to finish in the loan process," Kim said. "My customers don't have to navigate call centers or wonder who to reach out to when questions come up — they call me directly, and I take it from there. That level of access and accountability builds trust quickly," she said.
The Team
Anna Chung, EVP and Chief Community Lending Officer
Laura Kim, SVP Regional Sales Manager
Sonya Song, SVP, SBA Closing Manager
Helena Kim, SVP, SBA Operations Manager
Julie Kim, SVP, SBA Administration Manager
Christina Choi, SVP, Banking Manager
Victor Parker, EVP, Head of Community Banking
Pilla Huh, Credit Officer
Billy Jeong, VP, Credit Officer II
Juhee Kim, VP, Credit Officer II
