First Hawaiian Bank’s net income jumped 19.7 percent in the first quarter as it benefited from a new lower tax rate and achieved strong loan growth.

The parent of the state’s largest bank, First Hawaiian Inc., reported today that earnings rose to $68 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $56.7 million, or 41 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

First Hawaiian’s effective tax rate for the quarter dropped to 26 percent from 36.9 percent in the year-earlier quarter. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect Jan. 1, reduced the federal corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent.

”We had strong earnings growth driven by good loan growth, margin expansion, excellent asset quality, and an effective tax rate in line with our expectations,” First Hawaiian Chairman and CEO Bob Harrison said.

Loans rose 5.8 percent to $12.5 billion, deposits increased 2.5 percent to $17.4 billion and assets gained 2.3 percent gained to $20.2 billion.