Hawaii’s largest bank achieved a modest gain in its second-quarter profit but next month will lose its No. 2 executive.
First Hawaiian Bank and parent company First Hawaiian Inc. on Thursday reported earning $72.4 million in the three months ended June 30, up 5% from $69.1 million a year earlier.
The company also said Eric Yeaman, its president and chief operating officer, who also is member of First Hawaiian’s board of directors, announced his resignation effective Aug. 12.
Bob Harrison, First Hawaiian chairman and CEO, in a statement characterized the second-quarter financial results as “another solid performance” driven by excellent credit quality, prudent expense management and improvement in what the bank earns from lending money compared with what it pays customers for deposits.
Harrison also praised Yeaman, who helped First Hawaiian move from being a subsidiary of French banking giant BNP Paribas to an independent company with its own publicly traded stock.
“Eric’s leadership has been a key driver of our bank’s success over the last four years,” Harrison said in the statement. “His experience managing public companies played an integral role in helping First Hawaiian navigate through the (initial public stock offering) process and transitioning the company to independence. He has made a lasting impact on the organization, formed deep relationships with our teams and our customers, and will be missed.”
Harrison, who was president and CEO before Yeaman joined First Hawaiian, will reclaim the title. He has taken a more active role in daily operations since the split with BNP and said the timing for any potential transition of leadership at the bank conflicted with Yeaman’s personal and professional goals.
Yeaman joined the bank in 2015 after resigning as CEO of Hawaiian Telcom, where he led that company through bankruptcy and was instrumental in launching Hawaiian Telcom TV service.
During the second quarter, First Hawaiian said it had $20.5 billion in assets, roughly unchanged from the same quarter last year.
Total deposits were $16.8 billion, down from $17.4 billion in the same comparable period.
Loans and leases totaled $13.3 billion in the second quarter, up from $12.6 million a year earlier.
Net interest income, the difference between what the bank earns on loans and pays out on deposits, rose to $145.6 million from $141.4 million. And noninterest income, derived mainly from service charges and fees, slipped to $48.8 million from $49.8 million.
The company’s board decided Wednesday that a quarterly cash dividend of 26 cents per share will be paid Sept. 6 to stockholders of record as of the close of business Aug. 26.
First Hawaiian said that during the second quarter it repurchased $40 million of its own stock from shareholders, which often makes remaining shares more attractive because dilution is reduced.
Shares of First Hawaiian Inc. closed at $26.09 Thursday before the earnings announcement. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has closed as high as $29.77 on Aug. 21 and as low as $21.43 on Dec. 24.
2ND-QUARTER NET
$72.4 million
YEAR-EARLIER NET
$69.1 million
