Wilshire Bancorp Announces Dismissal of Class Action Lawsuit

Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:WIBC), the holding company for Wilshire State Bank, announced today that the securities class action lawsuit filed against Wilshire Bancorp and certain of its current and former executives in the United States District Court for the Central District of California has been dismissed and the plaintiffs have been denied the right to re-file the action.

Separately, Wilshire Bancorp announced that in the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company reported that it has remediated the previously disclosed material weakness in internal controls on loan underwriting, approval, and renewal processes for certain loan originations and asset sales.

"With the dismissal of the class action lawsuit and the remediation of the material weakness, we are very pleased to have resolved two issues that required significant attention from the management team and board of directors," said Jae Whan (J.W.) Yoo, President and CEO of Wilshire Bancorp. "Now that these issues are behind us, we can increase our focus on other initiatives that will more directly contribute to the profitable growth of the Company."

COMPANY INFORMATION

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Wilshire State Bank operates 24 branch offices in California, Texas, New Jersey and New York, and eight loan production offices in Dallas and Houston, TX, Atlanta, GA, Aurora, CO, Annandale, VA, Fort Lee, NJ, Newark, CA, and Bellevue, WA, and is an SBA preferred lender nationwide. Wilshire State Bank is a community bank with a focus on commercial real estate lending and general commercial banking, with its primary market encompassing the multi-ethnic populations of the Los Angeles Metropolitan area. Wilshire Bancorp's strategic goals include increasing shareholder and franchise value by continuing to grow its multi-ethnic banking business and expanding its geographic reach to other similar markets with strong levels of small business activity. For more information, please visit our website at www.wilshirebank.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements concerning future performance, events, or any other guidance on future periods constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that might cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. Specific factors include, but are not limited to, loan production and sales, credit quality, the ability to expand net interest margin, the ability to continue to attract low-cost deposits, success of expansion efforts, competition in the marketplace, the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, any developments or changes in pending litigation or governmental proceedings or the institution of additional or different litigation or governmental proceedings, and general economic conditions. Any financial information contained in this release should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in Wilshire Bancorp's most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as they may be amended from time to time. Results of operations for the most recent quarter are not necessarily indicative of operating results for any future periods. Any projections in this release are based on limited information currently available to management and are subject to change. Statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update the information herein to reflect new information, events or circumstances. Additional information on these and other factors that could affect financial results are included in filings by Wilshire Bancorp with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: Alex Ko, EVP & CFO - [phone]
         www.wilshirebank.com