Dominic Ng

Dominic Ng is an American banker.

His parents had lost most of their property after the Chinese Civil War and fled the Communist takeover of Shanghai to move to Hong Kong in 1949.

In Hong Kong, his father operated a bus transport business, while his mother ran a small business sewing school uniforms.

Ng was born in the then British Hong Kong in 1959, the youngest of six children.

Ng was part of a wave of Hong Kong students who came to the United States to study in the 1970s, and earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Houston.

He became a United States citizen in 1988.

Ng began his career as a Certified Public Accountant with Touche Ross in Houston and Los Angeles.

He was the head of the China business practice in the Los Angeles office.

One of his clients convinced him to head up its investment company, Seyen Investment Inc., in 1990.

He helped Seyen purchase East West Bank.

He has served as president and CEO of Los Angeles–based East West Bank since 1992, and chairman and CEO since 1998, transforming it into a full-service banking company.

In 2022, Ng was appointed by the Biden administration to be a U.S. member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council.

In 1992, Ng became East West Bank's third president and CEO.

He transformed East West Bank into a full-service banking company with dozens of branches in the United States.

In 1997, Ng engineered East West Bank's sale in a management-led buyout, which raised $238 million in 1998.

He became the bank's chairman that same year.

Overcoming Asia's financial crisis, the bank went public in 1999.

As CEO of East West Bank, Ng built a reputation for diversifying the bank's portfolio, including entertainment.

The Hollywood Reporter named him as one of the top U.S. bankers connecting Hollywood film studios to investors in China, helping to arrange fundraising once investment deals are in place.

He is also involved in real estate, renewable energy, and other sectors.

From 2005 to 2011, Ng served on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Los Angeles Branch.

In 2006, the Los Angeles Times named him as one of the 100 most powerful people in Southern California.

In 2010, Forbes listed him as one of 25 notable Chinese-Americans, noting the survival of the Chinese-American bank after the 2008 financial crisis.

Forbes has also described Ng as “a business bridge between the U.S. and Asia.”

As of 2023, East West Bank is the largest California-chartered bank, with total assets of $68.5 billion.

That same year, the bank earned the top spot in Bank Director’s RankingBanking study in the $50 billion and above asset category.

In 2022, Ng was appointed by the Biden administration to be a U.S. member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Advisory Council, and later that year was announced to chair the 2023 APEC summit to be hosted by the U.S. His specific focus included climate change and technology.

Ng's appointment attracted scrutiny from some Republican lawmakers over his connections to China-based organizations.

In February 2023, six Republican representatives led by Lance Gooden asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate Ng's ties to alleged front organizations of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, the China Overseas Exchange Association (COEA) and the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA) after The Daily Caller reported him as an executive director of both organizations.

From 2011 to 2014, Ng served as chairman of the Committee of 100, an organization of Chinese Americans seeking to address partnership between China and the United States.

A spokesperson for East West Bank described Ng's position with the COEA, whose invitation was accepted in 2013, as being strictly honorary and involving no attendance and stated that Ng had never accepted any position with the COFA.

Ng said he has never paid dues or accepted any renumeration from the COEA and withdrew from it after 2014.

Several members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus characterized the request for investigation as being racist in nature.

Judy Chu stated, "Dominic Ng, who is Chinese American, has undergone an extensive vetting process and sworn an oath to support and defend the Constitution and serve the American public."

During APEC United States 2023, Ng and San Francisco Mayor London Breed hosted a private welcome reception for the APEC Business Advisory Council.

Ng has advocated for and sponsored the showcasing of Chinese culture and art by major U.S. institutions, including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Huntington Library, Bowers Museum, and the USC Pacific Asia Museum.