Bank of the Orient shutting Maunakea site
San Francisco-based Bank of the Orient will close its Maunakea branch Aug. 23 and shift accounts to its downtown location at 765 Bishop St.
The closure will leave Bank of the Orient with just one other branch in Honolulu at 2851 E. Manoa Road.
Systemwide, Bank of the Orient had $476.1 million in assets as of March 31, according to its most recent filing with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
BOH bond ratings confirmed by Moody’s
Moody’s Investors Service has confirmed Bank of Hawaii’s bond ratings and maintained a "stable" rating outlook. Bankoh is rated Aa3 for long-term deposits and has a bank financial strength rating/baseline credit assessment of B/aa3. Moody’s rates the bank holding company’s senior unsecured MTN program (P)A1.
The ratings agency said the confirmation was based on Bankoh’s "excellent financial metrics, which are underpinned by its risk averse, low-growth strategy centered on its strong market position in Hawaii."
Moody’s said the bank has high capital and profitability ratios and that its asset quality metrics have been strong, even during the financial crisis.
$84M loss sends RIM shares tumbling
TORONTO » Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plunged nearly 30 percent Friday after the company posted a loss and warned of future losses despite releasing its make-or-break new smartphones this year.
The Canadian company said it lost $84 million, or 16 cents a share, in the three months ended June 1 on revenue of $3.1 billion. It lost $518 million, or 99 cents a share, on revenue of $2.8 billion a year ago. Analysts expected RIM to earn 5 cents a share on revenue of $3.37 billion.
The number of BlackBerry users in the world also fell by 4 million to 72 million. In addition, RIM announced it will stop developing new versions of its slow-selling tablet computer called the Playbook.
Analysts were looking for insight into how phones running RIM’s new Blackberry 10 operating system are selling. It wasn’t good.
RIM said it sold 6.8 million phones overall versus 7.8 million last year. That includes older models. RIM said 2.7 million of the devices sold in the quarter were Blackberry 10 models.
Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. dropped $4.02, or 28 percent, to close at $10.46 Friday.
News Corp. split made official after close
NEW YORK » News Corp. formally split in two after the market closed Friday, with existing shareholders getting one share in the new publishing entity for every four shares they hold in the media company.
Since June 19, preliminary shares of both sides of the company have been trading as if the split already occurred. Any buyers of preliminary shares will receive them July 5.
Preliminary publishing shares closed Friday at $15.25.
The recent trading valued the publishing division, to be named News Corp., at around $8.8 billion. That’s about 12 percent of the entire company’s value. It had a market capitalization of about $75.5 billion before the split.
The movie and TV division is being renamed Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. Its preliminary stock closed at $28.99 Friday.
U.S. consumer sentiment near 6-year high
WASHINGTON >> A measure of U.S. consumer confidence stayed near a six-year high in June as higher home prices boosted household wealth. The survey shows Americans remain upbeat about the economy, despite wild gyrations in the stock market.
The University of Michigan said Friday its final reading of consumer sentiment in June was 84.1, an improvement from a preliminary reading of 82.7 issued June 14. It is just below May’s final reading of 84.5, which was the highest since July 2007. Households with income above $75,000, those more likely to own homes and stocks, had the biggest wealth gain.
On the Move
Maui Memorial Medical Center has announced Dr. Rory O’Connor as its new gastroenterologist. He is one of only four gastroenterologists currently working on Maui. O’Connor was previously serving his gastroenterology fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, and completed his internal medicine residency at UCLA/Wadsworth VA Medicine Program.
Carlito P. Caliboso has become a member of a Hawaii law firm headed by managing member Dean Yamamoto. The firm has been renamed Yamamoto Caliboso LLLC. Caliboso joined the law firm in 2011 and has been practicing in the areas of regulatory, energy, telecommunications, public utilities, real estate and finance law. He was previously chairman of the Public Utilities Commission for eight years and an attorney for 20 years.
