UCBH Holdings Inc. (UCBH) released Thursday the text of a sharply worded cease-and-desist order it received from regulators that led to a replacement of its top management and was highly critical of its board of directors.

The enforcement action by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and California Department of Financial Institutions, dated Sept. 3, ordered UCBH's banking subsidiary, United Commercial Bank, to cease "operating with management whose policies and practices are detrimental to the bank and jeopardize the safety of its deposits."

In addition, the bank was ordered to cease "operating with a board of directors which has failed to provide adequate supervision over and direction to the active management of the bank."

The order restricts the bank's lending and orders it to "eliminate its reliance on brokered deposits." Such deposits had grown strongly recently. And the order forces the bank to aggressively classify, write off, and eliminate from its books its troubled loans.

The regulators also demand a capital plan, and that, by Dec. 31, its tier 1 capital ratio to be "no less than 12%."

Earlier Thursday, the Federal Reserve issued a written agreement with UCBH, also ordering the bank to submit a capital plan and, among other things, barring it from paying a dividend without the Fed's approval.

The milder written agreement from the Fed, with regulates the holding company, suggests that the company's problems are within the FDIC and state-regulated bank unit. The bank and the company have the same board and management.

BMO Capital Markets Corp. analyst Lana Chan wrote in a research report, "Based on the current disclosure, we believe the situation for UCBH is critical and the risk of an FDIC receivership is high." She wrote East West Bancorp Inc. (EWBC) and Cathay General Bancorp (CATY) "would be the most logical acquirers of UCBH in an FDIC-assisted transaction."

UCBH had said Tuesday in a press release that its longtime chief executive, Thomas Wu, had resigned, along with Ebrahim Shabudin, who had served as chief operating officer and chief credit officer for both the company and its bank unit. The company at the time had disclosed that it signed the cease-and-desist order but hadn't released the document.

The company also said in the release that it will replace Chief Financial Officer Craig On, who will remain in his role until a replacement is found and then become deputy CFO.

It is unclear what, if any, consequences the cease-and-desist order has for the company's current board, which is also the board of the bank. A spokesman for the company did not immediately return phone calls.

However, the company said that its own internal investigation found, among other things, "inappropriate modification of loan terms to delay negative consequences," and "misrepresentation or omission of relevant information" by "certain bank officers" to its finance department and its auditors.

The enforcement action, published in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday, orders the bank to "retain qualified management," particularly for the positions of CEO, CFO and chief credit officer.

The bank needs to raise capital and increase its reserve for loan losses, revise its lending policies, among other demands listed in the order. It cannot pay a dividend without regulatory approval.

-By Matthias Rieker, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2471; matthias.rieker@dowjones.com