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Parent Company Condensed Financial Statements (Narrative) (Details) - USD ($) | 12 Months Ended
--- | ---
Dec. 31, 2017 | Dec. 31, 2016 | Dec. 31, 2015
East West Bank |  |  |
Condensed Financial Statements, Captions [Line Items] |  |  |
Dividends declared | $ 255,000,000 | $ 100,000,000 | $ 0

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- Definition Amount of paid and unpaid cash, stock, and paid-in-kind (PIK) dividends declared, for example, but not limited to, common and preferred stock. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187085-122770 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 942 -SubTopic 405 -Section 45 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6957935&loc=d3e64057-112817 + Details
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