Migita named new CEO of Central Pacific Bank
Retiring chief Arnoldus to step down today
Ronald Migita, the former City Bank chief executive who lost his position following the company's $458.6 million takeover by rival Central Pacific Bank in September 2004, is returning to the helm.
Migita, 67, who had been Central Pacific's nonexecutive chairman, will take over tomorrow as president and chief executive of the state's fourth-largest bank following a four-month search. He will replace Clint Arnoldus, who had been planning at retiring at year-end but expedited his retirement to today.
"It will be a very orderly transition," the 61-year-old Arnoldus, who will get a retirement package of about $5 million, said today. "Ron has been our chairman and has been very intimately involved with our bank."
Migita, who will continue to serve as chairman, was involved in a war of words with Arnoldus in April 2003 when Arnoldus, the bank's first non-Japanese-American CEO, tried to engineer a hostile takeover of City Bank and replace City Bank's top executives, including Migita. At the time, Migita criticized the Salt Lake City-born Arnoldus' takeover tactics, saying "this is not how we do business in Hawaii."
After several rebuffed attempts, Central Pacific ended up acquiring City Bank on friendly terms after sweetening its offer several times for the bank.
Migita, who has more than 40 years of banking experience, will become Central Pacific's first Hawaii-born CEO.