First Hawaiian Bank Reports 8% Second Quarter Increase

By Sonia Isotov

According to Keith Nagata, senior vice president and Business Services Division manager, First Hawaiian Bank is reporting an almost 8 percent increase over last year second quarter in “same store sales”. This follows first quarter growth of 10.7 percent over the year-earlier period.

For the second quarter, 14 out of the 16 sectors in tracked in First Hawaiian Bank’s Business Activity Report (BAR) showed an increase over 2010.

“Our state’s tourism sector continues to lead our recovery. Unfortunately, the vital construction industry continues to lag both the tourism and retail sectors,” stated Bob Harrison, president of First Hawaiian Bank, in a written statement.

The BAR tracks retail sales activity in 16 different economic sectors including automobile, retail, hotels, home improvement, restaurants, shipping and travel, among others.

First Hawaiian Bank has over 7,500 merchant locations throughout Hawaii, Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands, and is the largest local processor of merchant services in these areas, thus, the BAR from First Hawaiian Bank are a good measure of broader economic activity in these areas.

For the first six months of 2011, the bank processed over $1.8 billion worth of credit and debit card sales transactions, a 10.9 percent increase over 2010 and more than any other local financial institution, according to their reports.