First Hawaiian
net rises

Service charges and fees,
along with cost-cutting, are
cited for the gain

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

First Hawaiian Inc., parent of First Hawaiian Bank, today reported a 5.5 percent increase in third-quarter profit to $22.5 million.

Per-share earnings were up 7.5 percent at 72 cents in the latest quarter, from 67 cents a share in the 1997 period.

Walter A. Dods Jr., chairman and chief executive, said the profit increase came from a growth in various service fees and charges and efforts to cut expenses.

The bank holding company is most of the way through a two-year program to reduce jobs, mostly through retirements and other attrition but with some layoffs. By the end of this month, First Hawaiian expects to acquire BancWest Corp., a West Coast bank, increasing its assets to about the same $15 billion level of competitor Pacific Century Financial Corp., parent of Bank of Hawaii.

Meanwhile, First Hawaiian reported assets of $8.2 billion as of Sept. 30, an increase of 3.7 percent from the year-earlier assets level of $7.9 billion.

Loans on Sept. 30 were $6.3 billion, up 5 percent from $6 billion a year earlier. Deposits of $6.2 billion were up 4 percent from $6 billion at the end of September 1997.

"First Hawaiian has been embarked on a companywide effort to reduce expenses, due to slowed revenue growth caused by continuing sluggishness in Hawaii's economy," Dods said.

"We have eliminated 410 positions since early 1997. We have avoided layoffs wherever possible, making nearly 90 percent of these trims through attrition. These payroll reductions are a major reason for the increase in third-quarter earnings," Dods said.

After the merger with BancWest, parent of Bank of the West, First Hawaiian will be the surviving company and will change its name to BancWest Corp. Dods will remain chairman of a board of directors made up of 11 First Hawaiian nominees and nine from the parent of the old BancWest, Banque Nationale de Paris. The new company is expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange Nov. 2, under the symbol BWE, dropping the old FHWN listing on the Nasdaq.