East West Bank's Wendy Cai-Lee (left), Steve LaFredo (right) and Houston Chinese Community Center (CCC) executive director Chi-mei Lin announce an upcoming golf tournament to benefit CCC’s community education program. MAY ZHOU / CHINA DAILY

East West Bank will host a charity golf tournament on April 20 at Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land, TX to benefit Houston's Chinese Community Center, Wendy Cai-Lee, executive vice-president head of eastern and Texas regions at EWB, announced on Thursday. She was joined by Chi-mei Lin, executive director of the center, and Steve LaFredo, senior vice-president for commercial lending regional director at EWB.

Cai-Lee said that a year and a half after the bank's acquisition of Metro Bank, they had finally gotten their internal structure in order and now it was time "to figure out how best to support the community, and this is just the beginning. We are also meeting with other organizations to learn how we can help.

"We don't want to just write a check, we want to know exactly where we can add value," she said.

According to Cai-Lee, East West Bank (EWB) is also a sponsor of the Asia Society Texas Center's Tiger Ball-Enchanting China held on Thursday night.

Lin said the Chinese Community Center (CCC) had a solid relationship with the former Metro Bank for 15 years and she was happy that CCC will be the beneficiary of the golf tournament.

"All the funds raised will go to our education program where the money is badly needed," said Lin.

Cai-Lee said that amid the "chaos of integration", EWB had managed to increase its deposits by $330 million last year.

"We are looking to build a new regional headquarters and a new branch on the ground floor of the headquarters. We look to grow and expand," said Cai-Lee.

LaFredo stressed EWB's commitment to help clients grow their business and expanding people's awareness of EWB products through various outreach programs.

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com