Exhibit 99.1

    Nara Bancorp Announces Termination of Memorandum of Understanding with
                              Regulatory Agencies

    LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 16, 2007--Nara Bancorp, Inc.
(the "Company") (NASDAQ:NARA), the holding company of Nara Bank (the
"Bank"), announced today that the Federal Reserve Bank of San
Francisco (the "Reserve Bank") and the California Department of
Financial Institutions, by letter dated July 12, 2007, have terminated
the Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") entered into with Nara Bank on
July 29, 2005, as amended. The termination of the MOU followed a
recent joint examination by the regulatory agencies. The MOU required
that the Bank take steps to strengthen management, board oversight and
internal controls, among other things, and the Bank's compliance with
these and other requirements of the MOU were key factors in the
lifting of this regulatory action. Further, additional restrictions
which were placed on Nara Bancorp at the time of the MOU have also
been terminated by the Reserve Bank, subject to approval of the
Company's board of directors.

    "We are very pleased to have successfully demonstrated the
improvements we have made in the Bank and to have the MOU lifted,"
said Min Kim, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nara Bancorp.
"I would like to thank all of the board members, management team and
employees who worked very hard to comply with the requirements of the
MOU over the past two years. While the process took a lot of effort,
we maintained our high performance, and with the encouraging guidance
of the regulators, we have emerged as a much stronger company. We look
forward to implementing our business plan and creating value for our
shareholders in the future."

    About Nara Bancorp, Inc.

    Nara Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Nara Bank, which was
founded in 1989. Nara Bank is a full-service community bank
headquartered in Los Angeles, with 21 branches and 9 loan production
offices in the United States. Nara Bank operates full-service branches
in California and New York, with loan production offices in
California, Washington, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, and
Virginia. Nara Bank was founded specifically to serve the needs of
Korean-Americans, one of the fastest-growing Asian ethnic communities
over the past decade. Presently, Nara Bank serves a diverse group of
customers mirroring its communities. Nara Bank specializes in core
business banking products for small and medium-sized companies, with
emphasis in commercial real estate and business lending, SBA lending
and international trade financing. Nara Bank is a member of the FDIC
and is an Equal Opportunity Lender. For more information on Nara Bank,
visit our website at www.narabank.com. Nara Bancorp, Inc.'s stock is
listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "NARA."

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements about future operations, that are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements,
including, but not limited to economic, competitive, governmental and
technological factors affecting the Company's operations, markets,
products, services, and pricing. Readers should carefully review the
risk factors and the information that could materially affect the
Company's financial results and business, described in documents the
Company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Annual
Reports on Form 10-K. Readers are cautioned not to place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of
the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation
to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these
forward-looking statements.

    CONTACT: Financial Relations Board
             Tony Rossi, 310-854-8317