Central Pacific Bank and Hokuyo Bank parent North Pacific Bank signed a memorandum of understanding Friday in Sapporo, Japan, to mutually explore banking and business opportunities between Japan and Hawaii.

The agreement, which is intended to further strengthen mutual cooperation between the two banks, was signed at a ceremony at Hokuyo Bank in Sapporo. In attendance were Junji Ishii, president of North Pacific Bank; John Dean, executive chairman of Central Pacific Bank; and company executives and other guests of the Hokkaido and Sapporo community.

“With the close ties that currently exist between Hawaii and Japan, we believe that formalized partnerships of this nature can accelerate international business activity and further boost economic growth in both markets,” Dean said. “The opening of our International Business Center in Waikiki last year will certainly help us in this initiative.”

Sapporo-based Hokuyo Bank is the seventh-largest regional bank in Japan and had approximately $68 billion in assets, 175 branches and approximately 3,200 employees as of March 31.

Central Pacific Bank, the fourth-largest bank in Hawaii, had about $5 billion in assets, 36 branches and about 900 employees as of June 30.