Enhancing banking experiences through technology and service

Our achievements are a snapshot of how well we are doing; here are some of our accolades for 2018:

• “Best Board” in the U.S. by Bank Director magazine, as well as in the Western region: the Second Best Bank, No. 1 Best Corporate Citizen, No. 1 Best Technology Strategy and No. 2 Best Bank for Millennial Employees
• Among Hawaii’s 13 Best Places to Work, No. 1 Most Family-Friendly and No. 1 Healthiest employer among large companies by Hawaii Business magazine
• “Best Bank” by readers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu magazine, Hawaii Tribune-Herald and The Garden Isle
• “Best Mortgage” by readers of The Garden Isle

Our focus is on keeping our services meaningful and intuitive, whether through our mobile banking app, online, by phone, ATM or in our branches. That involves providing the best service, advice and products to guide our customers toward living the life of their dreams, and in continually upgrading technology to streamline access in ways that work best for them. Whether visiting one of our branches, our online and mobile platforms or our easy-deposit ATMs, getting expert financial advice and services are now easier than ever.

Branch and Community Banking

Two branches were transformed in 2018 to reflect our “Branch of Tomorrow” concept. Our relocated Pearlridge Branch on Oahu opened in January, and our modernized Princeville Branch on Kauai, which opened in December, is our seventh “Branch of Tomorrow.” Each branch transformation has its own unique charm and integrates technological and energy-efficient enhancements with modern design. The initiative began with our Pearl City Branch in November 2016, followed by our Hawaii Kai, Kihei, Main and Mānoa branches.

We look forward to continuing to address the changing banking habits of today’s customers through this modern design, with more branch transformations planned throughout 2019. In addition, plans were announced to construct a new branch/office building in Tamuning, Guam to serve as our West Pacific regional headquarters. The building will include energy-efficient features, such as multi-zone air conditioning and light sensors, and construction is anticipated to be completed in 2020.

Bank of Hawaii is committed to reducing energy consumption, and has made this an integral part of modernizing our branches and other locations. Currently, 14 facilities have solar installations. Solar power plus other energy conservation tactics, such as building management systems that optimize ventilation, lighting and power systems, have reduced our overall energy consumption by 15 percent. Bank of Hawaii is also considering energy storage systems for the future to help us get to net zero energy usage.

Modernizing Our Workplace

Our commitment to innovative workspaces extends to all of our facilities. At our branches, new break rooms and large-screen LED monitors allow employees to attend meetings and training sessions online.

Our corporate headquarters on Oahu, at Financial Plaza of the Pacific, is currently undergoing renovations. Five floors were renovated in 2018, and the entire project is scheduled to be completed by 2020.

In addition to energy conservation strategies like high performance window tinting, LED lighting and high efficiency air conditioning systems, other features have been designed for the way employees work today. The penthouse is being transformed to include 13 conference rooms for use by employees. Individual workstations on other floors incorporate ergonomic features, including sit-stand desks, and desktop computers are being converted to laptops or tablets to promote mobility. All of these enhancements and more create an open, comfortable and collaborative office environment.

Digital Banking Solutions

Digital banking upgrades offer customers more choices and improve their experiences while protecting their data. These upgrades require a large investment in time and other resources for both customer-facing and behind-the-scenes technology, and sometimes take years of testing before implementation.

To provide our customers with secure online access, Bank of Hawaii continually upgrades its systems.

Our most recent customer-facing technology enhancement was to add an additional layer of security to consumer and business debit cards. To help minimize fraud, Bank of Hawaii launched debit card Fraud Alerts. Cardholders are alerted to suspicious activities on their debit cards through real-time, two-way texts, which have the potential to help them reduce or stop further financial loss.

Mortgage, Consumer and Dealer Indirect Lending

Because buying or constructing a new home, and utilizing that equity, are cornerstones for people to build better futures, we continue to invest in making the process of obtaining a mortgage or refinancing as easy and accessible as possible. Technological enhancements have also made the lending process quicker and more efficient. In 2018, we launched a new and secure online mortgage application called SimpliFi Mortgage by Bank of Hawaii^®, which uses the latest software to allow borrowers to complete a digital application, upload documents, read disclosures, check its status 24/7, and more, from any mobile device.

Bank of Hawaii remains Hawaii’s No. 1 residential lender for the sixth year in a row, in both number of residential loans recorded and total dollars loaned in 2018. We are also the top home equity lender in the state. We’ve accomplished this by providing the best solutions to meet our customers’ unique needs. The process has never been easier with our extensive branch network, professional experts and 24/7 Call Center.

Mortgage lending in Guam has also reached a new high in 2018, both in number of residential loans recorded and total dollars loaned.

Our flexible, efficient auto loan servicing, which is all handled locally, helps us grow our partnerships with Hawaii auto dealers. We continue to be the No. 2 auto lender in the state of Hawaii, and our combined auto loan and leasing portfolios grew to more than $730 million in 2018.

Commercial Real Estate Lending

Our support for Aloha United Way’s ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained, Employed) Report is helping us to sharpen our focus on how best to help meet the need for affordable housing. Across Hawaii and the Western Pacific, our team continues to partner with developers to finance affordable and workforce housing options for families and individuals as well as address housing needs for the elderly and those with special needs. Almost 650 affordable housing units commenced or completed construction in 2018, thanks in part to Bank of Hawaii.

The bank helped finance 82 units of affordable housing for Maui seniors at Kahului Lani-Phase I, developed by Catholic Charities Housing Development Corp. The bank also supported an additional 75 units for the elderly at Phase III of Meheula Vista in Mililani on Oahu and 48 units for families at Artridge Village, Saipan, through investments.

With 876 units in the pipeline for 2019, Bank of Hawaii remains actively committed to looking for new opportunities to partner with developers to meet the community’s long-term needs for affordable housing.

The Private Bank

The Private Bank at Bank of Hawaii provides personalized wealth management services through every life cycle stage. The expanded array of tailored services include customized lending; investments; insurance; financial, estate and tax planning; charitable giving and trust services in addition to basic banking. With new technology and increased collaboration with partners across the bank to enhance client offerings, The Private Bank team is a trusted ally in anticipating and meeting the complex and unique needs of high-value clients.

Some of the tailored services and products for The Private Bank clients in 2018 included specialized pricing, line limits and loan-to-value ratios for home equity loans. And when the largest tax reform in decades went into effect, our Private Bank team responded to clients’ questions by presenting tax seminars across the state.

Bank of Hawaii signed a unique agreement with SMBC Trust Bank in Japan in May 2018 to provide access to select private banking services for Japan clients entering Hawaii. Bank of Hawaii now offers SMBC Trust Bank’s Japanese clientele enhanced personal services, including access to Bank of Hawaii’s Japanese-speaking private banking staff and to its trust and real estate specialists. Benefits of the agreement also include discounted wire transfer services, seminar offerings and development of other products and services, such as trust planning, loan and real estate solutions. In return, SMBC Trust Bank now assists Bank of Hawaii Private Bank clients seeking special banking services in Japan.

Trust, Estate and Financial Planning

The Private Bank team creates a personalized plan to help each client meet his or her immediate and long-term financial goals, offering guidance in analyzing assets and tax implications, and investment opportunities to optimize returns. In 2018, we provided estate planning seminars to clients in Guam. Through Guam Private Banking, our clients are able to access Hawaii-based wealth management solutions.

We also help individuals ensure that a legacy is preserved, protected and transferred to the people and institutions of their choice. As part of this planning process, we offer personalized planning and advice for heirs in future generations so that they can continue a legacy in the way that is most fulfilling for them. For example, we can help with business development advice for an heir who may want to expand a family business in a new direction in the future.

As the largest administrator of trusts in the state with nearly $2 billion in assets under management, Bank of Hawaii has the depth of expertise necessary to handle every aspect of our clients’ trust accounts.

Taking care of our kupuna is an important part of our island culture, but finding the right services can be very time-consuming. A new service launched on The Private Bank section of our website identifies elder care resources by location. From finding a ride to a medical appointment or grocery shopping to help with downsizing, information is available to help meet the needs of seniors and provide peace of mind for those who care for them.

Estate settlement can take up to two years to complete, and our assistance to heirs during this process continues to be well-received. In addition to having a dedicated trust settlement team in place for Private Bank clients, we also provide education and support to other clients through our branch network whenever there’s a death in a family.

One of our services includes setting up and administering nonprofit foundations to preserve legacies. Many of these nonprofits distribute grants, and our Charitable Foundation Services group is responsible for overseeing grant requests, reviews and distributions. Through leveraging technology, grant applicants may apply online for grants from organizations utilizing our Grant Administration services. Charitable Foundation Services simplifies the foundation administration process for our clients.

Investment and Insurance Services

Bank of Hawaii continues to be the premiere provider of fiduciary and investment services in Hawaii and the Pacific. Our trusted team of certified financial planners (CFP) and certified financial analysts (CFA) manages almost $9.8 billion in assets through a wide array of advisory and broker services.

The recent increase in the short-term interest rate environment presented an opportunity to introduce a new “Pacific Capital U.S. Government Money Market Fund” to commercial customers who can benefit from higher returns for excess deposits in sweep accounts. This is only one of our broadened investment options. A number of different deposit, interest-bearing instruments and ultra-short-term money market funds and fixed annuities are now available to meet our clients’ short-term liquidity and longer term investment needs as we go through the current phase of the rate change cycle.

In 2018, Bankoh Investment Services Inc. (BISI) expanded their insurance capabilities to include disability insurance options to help protect clients who are in the crucial earning stages of their wealth management life cycle. This was added to the already robust suite of life insurance products, including term, whole life, universal and LTC hybrid policies successfully launched in 2017. With more than 20 different product solutions from nine well- respected and vetted insurance carriers, our financial advisors are able to help clients shop the market for comprehensive and competitive options to meet their financial needs.

Banking for Business

Bank of Hawaii understands the unique needs of doing business in Hawaii. It has been helping businesses of all sizes grow for generations. From small, family-owned businesses to corporations, from local healthcare and legal practices to international businesses, we have the expertise and products to help them all succeed.

Commercial/Corporate Banking

The deep financial knowledge of our commercial and corporate bankers combined with their keen understanding of the market allow them to come up with competitive solutions for our clients. The team is highly experienced in working with many different industries and works closely with other financial services experts across the bank to help provide tailored strategies and recommendations for a broad range of needs, including real estate and construction loans, liquidity management and equipment financing. We have established a reputation as the financial partner of choice in several areas, including commercial real estate and captive insurance.

In 2018, we continued to be the largest commercial mortgage lender in the state of Hawaii. One example is our $50 million financing of Waihonu Solar Farm, Oahu’s largest active solar farm. Our team finds customized financial solutions for owners, developers and investors with multi-family, retail, industrial, off ice and mixed-use properties.

Bank of Hawaii continues to lead in serving Hawaii’s captive insurance industry, and has been providing a comprehensive range of banking and investment services to presently more than 90 diverse captive clients since the industry first formed in Hawaii. Our Captive Insurance Services team continues to strongly support the Hawaii domicile, as it has done since its inception in 1986. The team helps businesses identify the right insurance professionals to conduct the detailed analysis necessary to determine if owners and operators are suited for, and will likely benefit from, captive insurance. Once a captive is licensed, Bank of Hawaii helps in evaluating the business’s current risk and financing structures, and in developing prudent portfolio routes for current and future reserve investments. As clients’ insurance reserve portfolios grow and risks are well-managed, their core capital can allow for increased insurance coverage options, improved internal corporate cash flow, further portfolio diversification and ongoing sound total risk and expense management. Previously, captives were the purview of predominantly Fortune 500-sized companies, but more recently businesses from a wide range of sizes and industries are using captives, including a growing number of Hawaii-based corporations. Bank of Hawaii currently oversees more than $1 billion in investment assets and deposits for Hawaii domiciled captives.

Business Banking

In 2018, Bank of Hawaii earned the U.S. Small Business Administration’s HEDCO (Hawaii Economic Development Corporation) Award, for recording 10 SBA loans processed through the 504 Loan Program. We are proud to have achieved this award.

Our bankers understand the unique challenges of doing business in Hawaii. Whether it’s finding the best merchant services or storefront lease option, or helping a customer apply for an SBA or Hawaii Green Energy Market Securitization Program loan, Bank of Hawaii is helping small businesses succeed and grow.