Bankoh to relocate branch to Hokua tower
Bank of Hawaii is planning to relocate its Ward Plaza branch to the ground floor of Hokua at 1288 Ala Moana Blvd.
The bank said construction of the new location is expected to begin at the end of February and be completed by mid-August.
"This is a great opportunity for the bank since the visibility, accessibility and parking at Hokua are exceptional," said Kevin Sakamoto, executive vice president for the bank’s Hawaii branch division.
The Ward branch, which opened in 1970, will close on a Friday, and the new branch will open the following Monday. All accounts and safe deposit boxes will be transferred to the new location. Honolulu-based DKKY Architecture Studio is the architect for the project.
Hokua, a mixed-used luxury residential tower, was jointly developed by the MacNaughton Group and Kobayashi Group, and they continue to own the commercial spaces on the first two floors.
State gets $703,505 grant for local exports
The state has received $703,505 from the U.S. Small Business Administration to increase local business exports.
The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism won the grant through the State Trade and Export Promotion program, known as HiSTEP.
The program will help small businesses with export assistance, readiness, counseling and training to generate new export sales. The total budget for the program is $1 million. The state and its partners will provide the additional $308,828 in cash and in-kind services.
Softbank negotiates to invest in Sprint
NEW YORK » Japanese cellphone company Softbank Corp. was in talks Thursday about taking a substantial ownership stake in struggling U.S. carrier Sprint Nextel Corp.
Sprint, the third-largest cellphone company in the U.S., said the deal could be big enough to involve a "change of control" of the company. It didn’t provide any other details.
The news sent Sprint shares as high as $6.04, the highest level since 2008. Sprint shares rose 72 cents, or 14.3 percent, to close at $5.76 on Thursday.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the potential deal would help Softbank expand outside of Japan. It put the value of the transaction at more than $12.8 billion.
U.S. jobless claims fall to lowest in 4 years
WASHINGTON » The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid plummeted last week to a seasonally adjusted 339,000, the lowest level in more than four years. The sharp drop, if sustained, could signal a stronger job market.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell by 30,000 to the fewest since February 2008. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped by 11,500 to 364,000, a six-month low.
The positive figures follow a report last week that said the unemployment rate fell in September to 7.8 percent. It was the first time since January 2009 that the rate dropped below 8 percent.
Mortgages forecast to lift banks’ profits
Federal stimulus has ignited a boom in mortgage refinancing, benefiting both homeowners and banks. And the good times could continue as the government steps up its support of the broad housing market.
Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, the top two U.S. mortgage lenders, are scheduled to report quarterly earnings today. Their results — and the wave of other bank reports that follow — will offer clues as to whether the current mortgage boom is sustainable or set to fizzle. In the third quarter, banks probably originated as much as $450 billion of home loans, a considerable jump from the second-quarter total of $405 billion.
Carl Icahn will offer $3B to buy Oshkosh
NEW YORK » Billionaire investor Carl Icahn wants to make an unsolicited bid for truck maker Oshkosh Corp. that values the company at almost $3 billion. Icahn says he also plans to nominate his own slate of directors in a bid to control the company.
The activist investor said Thursday that he will make a tender offer worth $32.50 per share in cash, a 21 percent premium over Oshkosh’s latest closing price.
U.S. trade deficit rose to $44.2B in August
WASHINGTON » The U.S. trade deficit widened in August from July because exports fell to the lowest level in six months. The wider deficit likely dragged on already weak economic growth. The deficit grew 4.1 percent to $44.2 billion in August, the biggest gap since May, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
Exports dropped 1 percent to $181.3 billion. Demand for American-made cars and farm goods declined.
Rate on 30-year mortgage rises to 3.39%
WASHINGTON >> Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages ticked up from record lows last week.
Cheaper mortgages are fueling a modest housing recovery that could help the broader economy.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan increased to 3.39 percent from 3.36 percent. The previous week’s rate was the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.
The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage edged up to 2.70 percent, from last week’s record low of 2.69 percent.
The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage has been below 4 percent all year. And rates have fallen even further since the Federal Reserve started buying mortgage bonds in September to encourage more borrowing and spending.
ON THE MOVE
ProService Hawaii has hired the following employees:
>> Yvonne Jones as a project manager. She was previously a project manager at Decision Research Corp., a senior business analyst at Ho‘ike Technology and a consultant with Accenture.
>> Stephanie Graeler as a professional services manager. She has eight years of experience in the professional employer organization industry and was previously director of professional services at CoAdvantage, a Florida-based PEO.
The University of Phoenix Hawaii Campus has donated more than 300 school supplies as well as $1,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii Spalding Clubhouse. Donated items include notebooks, pens, paper, glue and all the basic tools for the children to have supplies they need to stay in school.
More than 180 children visit the Spalding Clubhouse daily.
Aloha Petroleum has presented a check of $5,400 to the American Diabetes Association of Hawaii.
The money will go towards the organization’s mission to prevent and cure diabetes.
