Hope Bancorp puts material weakness in its rearview mirror

Hope Bancorp in Los Angeles has addressed a material weakness that forced it to scuttle an acquisition last year.

The $14.2 billion-asset company disclosed in its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has received a clean opinion from its auditors regarding the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting.

Hope disclosed the material weakness in early 2017, indicating that the issue was largely tied to its mid-2016 acquisition of Wilshire Bancorp.

The weakness eventually forced Hope to terminate its deal to acquire U&I Financial in Lynnwood, Wash., which was unable to get regulatory approval.

Hope's annual report did not indicate if the company was willing to revisit the U&I acquisition.