First Hawaiian Bank said Thursday it achieved the largest donation total from its annual Kokua Mai employee giving campaign by raising a record $708,764 for 35 charities.

Since Kokua Mai’s inception in 2007, bank employees and retirees have donated more than $5.4 million to support charities in Hawaii, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. First Hawaiian, a subsidiary of the French banking company BNP Paribas, is Hawaii’s largest bank with $18.9 billion in assets.

The bank, its foundation and employees, annually donate more than $3.5 million to more than 400 charities.

Kokua Mai is run by employees with all administrative costs covered by First Hawaiian so that 100 percent of its employee donations go directly to their charity of choice. Employees make their charity selections through an online system designed by employees. This year’s four-week Kokua Mai employee giving campaign was held from Oct. 13 to Nov. 13.

Falling profits a problem for big business

NEW YORK >> Corporate America has a profit problem. U.S. company earnings are falling for the first time since 2009, when the economy was still reeling from the Great Recession.

The main culprit is the plunging price of oil, which has decimated earnings at big energy companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Mining companies have also taken a beating because of tumbling prices for gold, silver and copper.

Earnings at energy companies dropped a staggering 59 percent in the third quarter, enough to drag overall profits for companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index down 1.5 percent, according to estimates by S&P Capital IQ. That marks the first quarterly decline in six years. Without the drag of energy companies, overall earnings would be up 6.2 percent.

To be sure, earnings are still high by historical standards, and the U.S. economy is continuing to slowly improve.

Treasury sets rules to limit tax inversions

WASHINGTON >> The Obama administration is issuing new rules aimed at reducing the tax benefits available to companies that move their tax addresses overseas.

But Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew says there is only so much the administration can do and called on Congress to pass legislation to stop the maneuvers, known as tax inversions.

The new Treasury rules would make it harder for a U.S. company to qualify for a tax inversion. But they don’t address a key area known as “earnings stripping,” a process by which companies increase deductions for their U.S. operations as a way to move profits to low-tax countries.

Square’s first-day stock soars 45 percent

SAN FRANCISCO >> Square bounced back in its stock market debut Thursday after the once-hot mobile payments service slashed the price of its initial public offering to get the deal done.

The 6-year-old company’s shares gained $4.07, or 45 percent, to close at $13.07. The surge helped ease the pain of a mortifying markdown in Square’s IPO price. The San Francisco company sold 25.7 million shares at $9 apiece after money managers leery of Square’s unprofitable history refused to pay $11 to $13.

The concession appeared to attract bargain hunters betting that Square is worth the price that its management team had been demanding in the IPO. Even with Thursday’s rally, Square’s stock remains below the $15.46-per-share price that the company fetched a year ago when it raised $180 million as a privately held startup.

On The Move

>> Cades Schutte has announced three new associates to the firm:

— Nathan C. Yang is an associate in the firm’s real estate and corporate departments. He received his degrees from the Duke University School of Law.

— Michelle Oh Yip is an associate in the tax and litigation departments. She was previously a law clerk for the Honorable Richard R. Clifton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Honorable Alan C. Kay, U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii.

— Cheryl L.M.T. Itagaki is an associate in Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, Trusts and Estates, and the Tax Department. She received her degree from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: