Ex-Bankoh
investors join CPBCentral Pacific Bank
is creating a new asset
management division
David Zerfoss, who oversaw more than $7 billion in investment assets at Bank of Hawaii before retiring earlier this year, has been hired along with four other ex-Bankoh employees to create a new asset management division at Central Pacific Bank.
The hiring of the 56-year-old Zerfoss, who will be senior vice president and chief investment officer, was part of a package deal that strengthens CPB's standing in the investment arena.
Also hired was Yvonne Lim, who will be manager of the fixed income group; Scott Takemoto and Derwin Osada, co-managers of the equity group; and Lorene Okimoto, asset management division chief administrator and portfolio manager.
"(Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer) Clint Arnoldus said if you want to be a player, you've got to have a big-play team," Zerfoss said. "So, with the five new hires, plus two competent people we already have here (Orest Saikevych and Doug Lee), we have a full spectrum of highly qualified people who will be able to do soup to nuts in a very personable manner."
Zerfoss, who had been with Bank of Hawaii for 34 years, said the six investment executives who departed at about the same time earlier this year from Bankoh's asset management group all left for different reasons.
"There was no concerted joint effort," Zerfoss said. "It was not orchestrated.
"For me, I didn't feel I was going to be able to do as good a job there as I would have liked to have done. I felt they wanted me to do it one way and I wanted to do it another way. They were the boss and it was time to go.
"But no one who left was pushed out, including me. In fact, everyone was asked to stay and offered incentives to stay. But, for various reasons, they decided that's not what they wanted to do for their careers."
Zerfoss said he hopes CPB's Asset Management Division can start accepting money from investors by the end of this month. He said the group will make investments for both individuals and institutions, but said that for the time being CPBwon't offer mutual funds because of the large amount of money needed to get started.
Although he stopped short of saying he would recruit Bank of Hawaii clients, he did say he hopes investors with Bank of Hawaii or First Hawaiian Bank "who are looking for top quality investment management with very personable service will think of us."
Zerfoss said he and the other four executives hired by CPB had other opportunities after leaving Bank of Hawaii but were attracted to CPB because of the independence that the opportunity offered.
"This was a a great opportunity to construct a first-class, high-end investment management business that is purely focused on the customers' needs," Zerfoss said. "We were able to structure a deal with CPB that essentially will allow us to do that."
Although the arrangement with CPB wasn't made until after Zerfoss and the others left Bank of Hawaii, their hiring represents the second time in the past year-and-a-half that CPB has hired a large group of investment executives from a competitor. It previously hired about a dozen executives from First Hawaiian Bank.
Former First Hawaiian executive Mike Masuda, who was one of those employees, is now the senior vice president and manager of CPB's trust division. He said that counting Zerfoss and the other new hires, the expanded trust and investment division now has about 17 employees to go along with four in the private banking division.
"I think we will become a much, much more active player in the market," Masuda said. "Central Pacific's trust and investment management division has been around for eight years and it's quietly been serving customers of Central Pacific, but not much beyond that. Now, we've geared up and have an outstanding staff and feel like we can go out and get a lot more business and do a lot more for the community."