Wanted: Cash pipeline to American Samoa

Beware the Ides of March. This time that expression has real resonance for members of the Samoan community here.

On March 15, Bank of Hawaii is scheduled to close its operations in American Samoa, as announced last November. The news was a jolt to the 30 employees in the two branches, located in Tafuna and Utulei, but it has repercussions for the relatives of some Samoan residents in the 50th State. That’s because Bankoh has had the largest banking presence in American Samoa for 40 years and is the conduit of choice for relatives in Hawaii to send money home. Its closure will leave the Australia-based ANZ Bank as the only institution holding deposits there.

Bankoh execs say one option is for account holders to transfer funds to an account they can open in Hawaii. Family can make deposits here, and checks and bank cards can be used in Samoa. Sounds like a plan.

Honolulu woman gets rare Obama pardon

President Barack Obama has been exceptionally sparse in granting pardons, limiting most to minor offenses, and his most recent list of 17 includes a Honolulu woman whose crime was helping immigrants cheat to pass naturalization tests in the mid-1990s.

The penalty for mother-of-two An Na Peng, 44, was two years’ probation and a $2,000 fine for conspiracy to defraud the Immigration and Naturalization Service. But that was not all: The China native had not feared deportation because she arrived in the United States in 1991 as a legal permanent resident — but that became part of her punishment under a new law created by Congress while she awaited sentencing. Now, Peng has reason to be doubly grateful: the president’s direct pardon erases the harsh penalty of deportation, and she recently won her immigration case on appeal.