Strong loan growth lifts Bankoh’s net

Companies and consumers across the state have stepped up their borrowing, and Bank of Hawaii Corp. has been right in the middle of it.

The state’s second-largest bank grew its loans 13.2 percent in the fourth quarter amid further evidence the state economy is improving and consumers are gaining more confidence.

Bankoh reported Monday it had net income of $41.2 million, or 94 cents a share, compared with $39.1 million, or 88 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The results beat analysts’ consensus estimate of 93 cents, according to Thomson Financial Network.

"If you would have told me early last year they would do 13 percent loan growth in 2014, I would say it was way too optimistic," Nashville, Tenn.-based analyst Brett Raba­­­tin said. "But they were able to grow a couple pieces of their loan portfolio, and that’s what they hope the driver will be for 2015."

Bankoh said consumer loans jumped 14.1 percent to $4.07 billion from the year-earlier quarter while commercial loans rose 11.9 percent to $2.83 billion.

"We’ve seen growth on the commercial side for a few years now, and more recently in the past year we’ve seen movement on the consumer side," said Peter Ho, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Bankoh. "My view is that the economy is getting better and that’s trickling down to the consumer level and the consumer is responding by being more active in the marketplace. Our auto lending has been very strong, our home equity utilization has been very strong and a lot of people are doing remodeling using home equity lines to make major purchases. Also, our residential mortgage book has been very active."

The bank also has seen improvements in other areas. Its boosted its deposits 6 percent last quarter to $12.6 billion from $11.9 billion and cut its expenses by $1.2 million, or 1.4 percent, to $81.2 million.

"With this being the fourth quarter, I looked at the performance of each of the four quarters of 2014, and the thing that stuck out for me was that we had loan growth, deposit growth and reduced expenses in each of the four quarters," Ho said. "In addition to just having a strong year, we had a very consistent year across each of the quarters — the fourth quarter being no exception. Any time you generate 13 percent year-on-year loan growth, that’s pretty exceptional by most standards."

For all of 2014, Bankoh had net income of $163 million, or $3.69 a share. That’s up 8.3 percent from $150.5 million, or $3.38 a share, in 2013. Total assets rose 5 percent to $14.8 billion from $14.1 billion.

Bankoh’s noninterest income, which includes service charges and fees, rose 1.2 percent last quarter to $45.8 million from $45.3 million. The bank added $2 million to its non­interest income by selling 22,000 Visa Class B shares that it received for its membership stake in the card company when it went public in 2008. The bank also lowered its tax rate by contributing 4,700 Visa Class B shares to the Bank of Hawaii Foundation, which benefits nonprofit organizations. As of Dec. 31 the bank had 397,514 Visa Class B shares remaining.

The bank’s net interest income — the spread between what Bankoh pays depositors and the interest income it generates from loans — rose 4.9 percent to $96.6 million from $92.1 million in the year-earlier quarter. Its net interest margin slipped to 2.84 percent from 2.85 percent.

Total nonperforming assets — loans overdue by 90 days or more — decreased 24.1 percent to $30.1 million from $39.7 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Bank of Hawaii’s stock rose 97 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $57.65 during the regular trading session on the New York Stock Exchange. The earnings were released after the close of the market.