FRESNO, CALIFORNIA...April 21, 2025...The Board of Directors of Community West Bancshares (“Company”) (NASDAQ: CWBC), the parent company of Community West Bank (“Bank”), reported today unaudited consolidated net income of $8,293,000, and diluted earnings per share of $0.44 for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to $3,676,000 and $0.31 per diluted common share for the three months ended March 31, 2024.

•Net income during the first quarter increased to $8.3 million, or $0.44 per diluted common share, compared to net income of $6.9 million and $0.36, respectively, in the fourth quarter of 2024.

•Gross loans increased by $12.7 million during the first quarter, or 2.17% on an annualized basis.

•Total cost of deposits decreased to 1.45% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 compared to 1.49% for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

•Average non-interest bearing demand deposit accounts as a percentage of total average deposits totaled 34.30% and 36.02% for the quarters ended March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

•Net interest margin increased to 4.04% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, from 3.95% for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

•Capital positions remain strong at March 31, 2025 with a 9.36% Tier 1 Leverage Ratio; a 11.39% Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio; a 11.57% Tier 1 Risk-Based Capital Ratio; and a 13.82% Total Risk-Based Capital Ratio.

•The Company declared a $0.12 per common share cash dividend, payable on May 16, 2025 to shareholders of record as of May 2, 2025.

“Our team’s commitment to empowering communities across Central California through trusted client advocacy is especially valued in uncertain economic environments,” said James J. Kim, President and CEO of the Bank and CEO of the Company. “Backed by more than four decades of conservative business practices, deposit stability and enduring client relationships, the Company remains a safe and stable financial partner. Even amid capital market volatility driven by shifting tariff policies, our team’s unwavering focus on client success continues to define and differentiate us.”

“We recently celebrated two major milestones: 45 years of building strong relationships and the one-year anniversary of the largest merger in the Company’s history. It is a privilege to continue embracing our founding values and working alongside such dedicated and inspiring professionals.”

“The Company’s first-quarter results reflect sequential improvement in both earnings and net interest margin,” added Shannon Livingston, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “With another quarter of solid financial performance, the Company is well-positioned to continue building on this momentum.”

In this press release, Community West Bancshares’s financial results are presented in accordance with GAAP and refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes that presentation of operating results using non-GAAP financial measures provides useful supplemental information to investors and facilitates the analysis of the Company’s core operating results and comparison of operating results across reporting periods. Management also uses non-GAAP financial measures to establish budgets and manage the Company’s business. A reconciliation of the GAAP financial measures to comparable non-GAAP financial measures is presented below.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the Company reported unaudited consolidated net income of $8,293,000 and diluted earnings per common share of $0.44, compared to consolidated net income of $6,895,000 and $0.36 per fully diluted share for the trailing quarter, and consolidated net income of $3,676,000 and $0.31 per diluted share for the same period in 2024. The earnings profile of the Company has improved during the quarter due to improvement in net interest income and margin, a decrease in the provision for credit losses, and increased non-interest income, partially offset by an increase in non-interest expenses.

Annualized return on average equity (ROAE) for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 was 8.97%, compared to 7.08% for the same period of 2024. Annualized return on average assets (ROAA) was 0.94% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 compared to 0.61% for the same period in 2024.

The effective yield on average investment securities, including interest earning deposits in other banks and Federal funds sold, was 3.02% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to 3.07% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 and 3.16% for the quarter ended December 31, 2024.

Total average loans increased by $1,050,929,000 to $2,333,997,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, from $1,283,068,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 and increased by $25,817,000 from $2,308,180,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. The year over year increase was primarily due to the consummation of the merger, in which loans with a fair value of were recorded on the consolidated balance sheets as of April 1, 2024. The effective yield on average loans was 6.69% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to 5.74% and 6.61% for the quarters ended March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

The Company’s net interest margin (fully tax equivalent basis) was 4.04% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to 3.42% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 and 3.95% for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. Net interest income, before provision for credit losses, increased by $13,109,000 or 68.73%, to $32,182,000 for the first quarter of 2025, compared to $19,073,000 for the same period in 2024. In addition to the increase in average loans due to the merger and organic loan growth, the Company's yield on interest earning assets has increased from 4.58% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 to 5.65% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025. Additionally, the Company has been impacted by higher costs on interest-bearing liabilities, in which the cost of total deposits increased to 1.45% from 0.98% when comparing the quarters ended March 31, 2025 and 2024. The increase in the cost of deposits is primarily attributed to volume and rate increases in the money market and time deposit portfolios from both acquired deposits from the merger and the Company’s existing base. Net interest income during the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024 and December 31, 2024 benefited by approximately 25 basis points ($2,052,000), one basis point ($41,000), and 24 basis points ($1,909,000), respectively, from the net accretion of fair value marks.

The increase in total non-interest income for quarter ended March 31, 2025 as compared to the trailing quarter was due to improvements in the fair value adjustment of the Company’s equity security.

Increases in non-interest income as compared to the prior year quarter was due to the consummation of the merger as of April 1, 2024 and no realized losses on sales of investment securities.

During the first quarter of 2025, total non-interest expense increased $282,000 as compared to the trailing quarter. The increase was driven primarily in salary and employee benefits, professional services, and information technology. The increase in salary and employee benefits was due to annual resets in payroll taxes and one-time severance payments. Professional services increased due to increased audit and consulting fees. Information technology increases were due to continued investments to enhance digital products.

Increases in non-interest expenses as compared to the prior year quarter was due to the consummation of the merger as of April 1, 2024.

Total assets for the period ended March 31, 2025 increased $31,315,000 or 0.89%, compared to the period ended December 31, 2024. Total average assets for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 were $3,528,337,000 compared to $2,420,810,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 and $3,524,115,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $1,107,527,000 or 45.8% and an increase of $4,222,000 or 0.12%, respectively. As a result of the merger on April 1, 2024, the Company recorded goodwill of approximately $43 million and core deposit intangibles of $10.0 million.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the Company’s average gross investment securities decreased by $125,834,000, or 13.00%, compared to the quarter ended March 31, 2024, and decreased by $10,163,000, or 1.19%, compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2024. This decrease compared to the prior year was the result of sales and maturities of available for sale (AFS) securities.

In comparing the quarter ended March 31, 2025 to the quarters ended March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2024, total average gross loans increased $1,050,929,000 or 81.91%, and increased by $25,817,000 or 1.12%, respectively.

Total average deposits increased $851,336,000 or 41.42%, to $2,906,477,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to $2,055,141,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, and increased $1,609,000, or 0.06%, compared to $2,904,868,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. The Company’s ratio of average non-interest bearing deposits to total deposits was 34.30% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to 45.30% and 36.02% for the quarters ended March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2024, respectively.

The Company has significant liquidity, both on and off-balance sheet, to meet customer demand. During the year-to-date period, the Company’s cash and cash equivalents increased $27,994,000 to $148,392,000 compared to $120,398,000 at December 31, 2024. The Company had $134,377,000, net of discount, in short-term borrowings at March 31, 2025 compared to $133,442,000 at December 31, 2024.

During the first quarter of 2025, the Company recorded net loan recoveries of $125,000 compared to $525,000 in net charge-offs for the same period in 2024. The net charge-off ratio reflects annualized net recoveries to average loans of (0.02)% for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, compared to annualized net charge-offs of 0.16% for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. During the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the Company recorded a provision of $168,000 for credit losses on loans, compared to a $530,000 provision for loan losses for the quarter ended March 31, 2024. In addition to the provision of credit losses on loans for the quarter ended March 31, 2025, the Company recorded a credit to the provision for credit losses on held-to-maturity securities of $182,000 as compared to a credit to the provision of $157,000 in the prior year quarter. The Company recorded a credit to the provision for unfunded loan commitments totaling $27,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 compared to a provision of $202,000 in the prior year quarter.

Loan Risk Rating (In thousands)						March 31, 2025						% of Total						December 31, 2024						% of Total						March 31, 2024						% of Total
Pass						$	2,282,083					97.3		%				$	2,272,543					97.4		%				$	1,262,046					98.1		%
Special mention						17,209						0.7		%				17,384						0.7		%				5,595						0.4		%
Substandard						47,605						2.0		%				44,294						1.9		%				18,968						1.6		%
Doubtful						—												—												—
Total						$	2,346,897					100.0		%				$	2,334,221					100.0		%				$	1,286,609					100.0		%

At March 31, 2025, the allowance for credit losses for loans was $26,095,000, compared to $25,803,000 at December 31, 2024, a net increase of $292,000 reflecting a provision for loan losses of $168,000 and net recoveries during the period. The allowance for credit losses as a percentage of total loans was 1.11% as of March 31, 2025 and December 31, 2024. The Company believes the allowance for credit losses is adequate to provide for expected credit losses within the loan portfolio at March 31, 2025.

On April 16, 2025, the Board of Directors of the Company declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share on the Company’s common stock. The dividend is payable on May 16, 2025 to shareholders of record as of May 2, 2025. The Company continues to be well capitalized and expects to maintain adequate capital levels.

Effective on April 1, 2024, Central Valley Community Bancorp completed its merger transaction with Community West Bancshares. Shortly thereafter Community West Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Community West Bancshares, merged with and into Central Valley Community Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Central Valley Community Bancorp, with Central Valley Community Bank being the surviving banking institution. Effective with these mergers, the corporate names of Central Valley Community Bancorp and Central Valley Community Bank were changed to Community West Bancshares and Community West Bank, respectively.

Community West Bancshares (“Company”) (NASDAQ: CWBC) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Community West Bank (“Bank”), are headquartered in Fresno, California. The Company was established in 1979 with the vision to help businesses and communities by exceeding expectations at every opportunity, and opened its first Banking Center on January 10, 1980. Today, the Bank operates full-service Banking Centers throughout Central California and maintains a variety of departments supporting Commercial Lending, Agribusiness, SBA, Residential Construction and Mortgage, Manufactured Housing, Private Banking and Cash Management.

Members of the Company and Bank Board of Directors are: Daniel J. Doyle (Chairman), Robert H. Bartlein (Vice Chairman), James J. Kim (CEO of the Company and President and CEO of the Bank), Martin E. Plourd (President of the Company), Suzanne M. Chadwick, Daniel N. Cunningham, Tom L. Dobyns, F.T. “Tommy” Elliott IV, Robert J. Flautt, James W. Lokey, Andriana D. Majarian, Steven D. McDonald, Dorothea D. Silva, William S. Smittcamp and Kirk B. Stovesand. Louis C. McMurray is Director Emeritus.

More information about Community West Bancshares and Community West Bank can be found at www.communitywestbank.com. Also, follow the Company on LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

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Forward-looking Statements- Certain matters set forth herein constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including forward-looking statements relating to the Company’s current business plans and expectations regarding future operating results. Forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, the use of forward-looking language, such as “likely result in,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “forecasts,” “projects,” “intends to,” or may include other similar words or phrases, such as “believes,” “plans,” “trend,” “objective,” “continues,” “remains,” or similar expressions, or future or conditional verbs, such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “might,” “can,” or similar verbs. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control, include, but are not limited to: current and future business, economic and market conditions in the United States generally or in the communities we serve, including the effects of declines in property values and overall slowdowns in economic growth should these events occur; inflationary pressures and changes in the interest rate environment that reduce our margins and yields, the fair value of financial instruments or our level of loan originations, or increase the level of defaults, losses and prepayments on loans we have made and make, whether held in the portfolio or in the secondary market; effects of and changes in trade, monetary and fiscal policies and laws, including the interest rate policies of the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve Board; geopolitical and domestic political developments that can increase levels of political and economic unpredictability, contribute to rising energy and commodity prices, and increase the volatility of financial markets; changes in the level of nonperforming assets and charge offs and other credit quality measures, and their impact on the adequacy of our allowance for credit losses and our provision for credit losses; factors that can impact the performance of our loan portfolio, including real estate values and liquidity in our primary market areas, the financial health of our commercial borrowers, and the success of construction projects that we finance; our ability to achieve loan growth and attract deposits in our market area, the impact of the cost of deposits and our ability to retain deposits; liquidity issues, including fluctuations in the fair value and liquidity of the securities we hold for sale and our ability to raise additional capital, if necessary; continued or increasing competition from other financial institutions, credit unions, and non-bank financial services companies; challenges arising from attempts to expand into new geographic markets, products, or services; restraints on the ability of Community West Bank to pay dividends to us, which could limit our liquidity; increased capital requirements imposed by banking regulators, which may require us to raise capital at a time when capital is not available on favorable terms or at all; inaccuracies in our assumptions about future events, which could result in material differences between our financial projections and actual financial performance; changes in our management personnel or our inability to retain, motivate and hire qualified management personnel; disruptions, security breaches, or other adverse events, failures or interruptions in, or attacks on, our information technology systems; disruptions, security breaches, or other adverse events affecting the third-party vendors who perform critical processing functions; an inability to keep pace with the rate of technological advances due to a lack of resources to invest in new technologies; risks related to the merger, including, among others, the expected business expansion may be less successful as projected, deposit attrition, customer or employee loss and/or revenue loss as a result of the merger; natural disasters, such as earthquakes, wildfires, drought, pandemic diseases (such as the coronavirus) or extreme weather events, any of which may affect services we use or affect our customers, employees or third parties with which we conduct business; compliance with governmental and regulatory requirements, relating to banking, consumer protection, securities and tax matters; and our ability to the manage the foregoing.

The foregoing factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read together with the other cautionary statements included in this report. Because of these risks and other uncertainties, our actual future results, performance or achievement, or industry results, may be materially different from the results indicated by the forward looking statements in this report. In addition, our past results of operations are not necessarily indicative of our future results. You should not rely on any forward looking statements, which represent our beliefs, assumptions and estimates only as of the dates on which they were made, as predictions of future events. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

(1) Non-GAAP measure. Tangible common equity equals totals shareholder’s equity ($371,937 as of 3/31/2025) minus goodwill and core deposit intangible ($105,845 as of 3/31/2025). Tangible book value per share equals tangible common equity total ($266,092 as of 3/31/2025) divided by shares outstanding (19,061,009 as of 3/31/2025).

(2) Net Interest Margin is computed by dividing annualized quarterly net interest income by quarterly average interest-bearing assets.

(3) Computed by annualizing quarterly net income.

(1)    Calculated on a fully tax equivalent basis, which includes Federal tax benefits relating to income earned on municipal bonds totaling $348, $351, and $371 at March 31, 2025, December 31, 2024, and March 31, 2024, respectively.

(2)    Loan interest income includes loan (costs) fees of $99, $(117), and $139 at March 31, 2025, December 31, 2024, and March 31, 2024, respectively.

(3)    Average loans do not include non-accrual loans but do include interest income recovered from previously charged off loans.

(4)    Net interest margin is computed by dividing net interest income by total average interest-earning assets.

Shannon Livingston                    Debbie Nalchajian-Cohen

Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer        Public Relations

Community West Bancshares                Community West Bancshares

916-235-4617                    559-222-1322