Pacific Century
offering online
share voting

The move puts Bankoh's parent
on the leading edge of Hawaii
shareholder interactivity

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Shareholders of Pacific Century Financial Corp. for the first time will be able vote online on the proposals for this year's annual meeting of the big bank holding company.

The parent of Bank of Hawaii and other financial companies said it soon will post its proxy statement on its website www.boh.com, probably next week, in preparation for the shareholders meeting set for April 23.

Shareholders have to go through a registration process in order to vote on it, but once they have, they'll be able to record their votes through another site, http://www.ProxyVote.com.

They'll also be able to look at the company's annual report in full for the first time at http://www.boh.com.

"This service has already paid for itself," said Cori Weston, Pacific Century corporate secretary. "It not only allows convenient access to these important shareholder documents, but each annual report that we deliver electronically -- as opposed to mail -- is a savings for the company.

The company said shareholders were notified by mail about the new services and so far more than 500 have requested the electronic service, saving the company a lot in printing, mailing and handling costs.

There is a deadline to register to vote and it is coming up fast. Registrations must be made by the end of the day Wednesday, but the bank said registration is very fast and there is still time. There is an e-mail system on www.boh.com to get a registration number which can be used to register at http://www.ProxyVote.com.

Items to be voted on at this year's meeting involve language changes in the company's articles of incorporation and some changes in stock-option plans for executives, according to a preliminary proxy statement filed at the Securities & Exchange Commission.