| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Finance and Insurance |
| Founded | Alhambra, California, (2000) |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles County, California |
| Key people | Li-Chen Herman, President |
| Products | Banking |
| Revenue | N/A (Asset = $ 374.749 million) Return on assets = 1.7 Return on equity = 13.46 |
| Website | www.tomatobank.com |
Tomato Bank (宏基銀行), more commonly known as TomatoBank, is an overseas Chinese bank in the United States. Headquartered in Alhambra, California, with branch offices in Cerritos, California, Diamond Bar, California, Industry, California, and West Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, this privately-held community bank was first established on September 29, 2000.
The bank was established to serve the local Chinese community, but unlike those traditional overseas Chinese banks in the United States established earlier, a significant portion of the Tomato Bank clientele are wealthy Chinese immigrants either engaged in international trade and real estate business, or professionals.
Another unique feature of the bank is that unlike other banks, the founder, and former chairman, and CEO of this bank is a physician instead of a businessperson. However, Dr. Stephen Liu does have managerial training in that he has earned a master's degree in healthcare management from University of California, Los Angeles after gaining his doctor of medicine (M.D.) degree from the medical school of University of Southern California. Dr. Liu's experience in banking included being a member of the board of American International Bank.
The bank originally adopted several names, including InterBusiness Bank, Inter Business Bank, Tomato Bank, and Acer Bank. However, customer surveys revealed that the name Tomato Bank was most popular, partially because it was easy to remember. As explained by the former Chairman and CEO, Dr. Stephen Liu, at a business reception in mid 2006:
"It is an attractive brand name that brings to mind images of growth, multi-culture and health, all characteristics that represent who we are and what we strive to achieve. But most importantly, it is a brand that is recognizable and hard to forget. If there can be an Apple Computer - why not a Tomatobank? Try to forget it. You can't!"
Furthermore, the name proved to be unique because other Chinese businesses seldom adopt such unusual names, so that other Chinese merchants would not have to worry about confusing the bank with other businesses.
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