Chinatown’s Cathay General Bancorp announced Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase fellow Chinese-American bank Asia Bancshares Inc. in Flushing, N.Y. for about $126 million in cash and stock.

Cathay, L.A’s second-largest Chinese bank – and fifth-largest overall, with $11.5 billion in assets – will get a bigger footprint in New York City as part of the deal. It adds three Asia branches in New York City and one in suburban Washington, D.C. as part of the deal, bringing its total Big Apple presence to 12 storefronts.

“Asia Bank serves the same targeted customer base as Cathay and shares our same focus on serving our customer’s lending and deposit needs,” Cathay Chief Executive Dunson K. Cheng said in a press release announcing the deal.

Asia currently has about $497 million in assets. Its chief executive, Jentai Tsai, will join Cathay’s advisory board.

Cathay General shares were up just shy of 1 percent to $23.53 in midday trading on the Nasdaq Wednesday.