Nara Bancorp Inc. said Monday that it will offer about $70 million of its common stock in a secondary public offering, the second Los Angeles bank to do so this month.

The bank holding company has not yet priced the offering or specified the number of shares to be sold. Shares closed up 2 cents to $8.97 on the Nasdaq prior to the announcement, so the number of shares to be sold is likely to be around 7.8 million. The company currently has 26 million shares outstanding.

Nara will grant the underwriter, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, an option to purchase up to an additional 15 percent of common stock to cover any over-allotments. The parent of Nara Bank said it intends to use proceeds for general corporate purposes, which may include funding acquisition, working capital requirements and related regulatory capital needs.

Several other community banks in Los Angeles this year have sold shares to either bolster capital, make acquisitions or pay back government TARP funding.

Cathay General Bancorp said Monday after market closed that it completed a previously announced secondary offering of 7.6 million shares. The underwriter, BofA Merrill Lynch, exercised an option to purchase an additional 1.14 million shares of common stock to handle over allotments.

Net proceeds from the offering by the parent of Cathay’s Bank were approximately $76 million.

Cathy shares closed down 11 cents, or 1 percent, to $9.90 on the Nasdaq,