Ohana Pacific Bank posted its 14th straight profitable quarter and received a bump in deposits from its new Kalihi branch, but overall net income declined 12.9 percent partly due to expenses tied to the new facility.

The state’s smallest bank, which on Dec. 14 opened an in-store branch within the Palama Super Market in Kalihi, said earnings fell to $243,000 from $279,000 in the year-earlier quarter.

Noninterest expenses rose 7.7 percent to $795,000 from $738,000 with approximately $55,000 in expenses tied to the Kalihi branch in the first quarter. Deposits, though, rose 5.7 percent to $90.1 million from $85.2 million a year ago, with the Kalihi branch contributing more than $1 million of the first-quarter total.

"We continued to be profitable and exceeded the profit target for the first quarter," Ohana Pacific President and CEO James Hong said Thursday. "We’re receiving more positive responses from the community as our operation, including the new branch, is being stabilized and more people recognize our name. Additionally, many of our important business projects are making progress as planned."

Hong said the Kalihi branch is not expected to produce huge business volume.

"It will serve more as a supplementary market branch rather than a stand-alone profit center branch," he said. "Offering more convenient access to the existing customers or the main office customers is also another important purpose of the branch."

Ohana Pacific, which opened on June 1, 2006, and endured five straight losing years before turning a profit, caters primarily to the Korean community and small and midsize businesses, and now has $104.7 million in assets.