First Hawaiian Bank facts for kids
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Formerly
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BancWest Corporation |
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| Public | |
| Traded as |
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| Industry | Banking |
| Founded | 1858 |
| Headquarters | First Hawaiian Center Honolulu, Hawaii, US |
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Area served
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United States (Hawaii, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands) |
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Key people
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Robert S. Harrison (CEO & president) |
| Revenue |  US$709 million (2016) |
| US$230 million (2016) |
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Number of employees
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2,000+ (2022) |
First Hawaiian, Inc. is a company that owns banks, and its main office is in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. Its most important bank is First Hawaiian Bank. This bank started way back in 1858, making it Hawaiʻi’s oldest and largest financial place. Its main building is the First Hawaiian Center in Honolulu.
First Hawaiian Bank has 57 branches across Hawaiʻi. It also has three branches in Guam and two in Saipan. The bank helps both everyday people and businesses with their money. This includes things like helping them save money, offering loans, and managing their investments.
In 2016, First Hawaiian became a public company, meaning its shares could be bought and sold on the NASDAQ stock market. It quickly became one of America's largest banks. By 2019, a company called BNP Paribas sold all its shares in First Hawaiian Bank.
Contents
The Story of First Hawaiian Bank
The story of First Hawaiian Bank began in 1858. Two local business people, Charles Reed Bishop and William A. Aldrich, started a banking business called Bishop & Co. This was the very first successful bank in the independent Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
Their first office was in a basement room on Kaʻahumanu Street. On its first day, Bishop & Co. took in over $4,700 in deposits! Many years later, in 1895, Samuel M. Damon bought the bank from Charles Bishop.
Growing Across the Islands
In 1910, Bishop & Co. opened its first branch outside of Honolulu, in Hilo. The next year, in 1911, it opened a branch on Kauaʻi in Waimea. By 1919, Bishop & Co. officially became a corporation, changing its name to the Bank of Bishop & Co.
During the 1920s, the bank kept growing. It bought the Bank of Honolulu in 1922. It also opened new branches in Kona in 1923 and on Lānaʻi in 1924.
In 1929, the bank merged with several other banks, including First National Bank of Hawaii. After these mergers, its name changed to Bishop First National Bank of Honolulu.
New Names and New Services
The bank's name changed a few more times over the years. In 1933, it became Bishop National Bank of Hawaii at Honolulu. Then, in 1956, it was simply Bishop National Bank of Hawaii.
In 1966, a company called Cooke Trust Company took over the bank. A few years later, in 1969, the bank got its current name: First Hawaiian Bank. The very next year, in 1970, First Hawaiian Bank opened its first branch outside of Hawaii, in Dededo, Guam.
In 1975, First Hawaiian bought Hawaii Thrift & Loan, which was having money problems. They turned it into a new company called First Hawaiian Creditcorp.
Expanding in the 1990s
First Hawaiian Bank continued to grow by buying other banks in the 1990s.
- In 1991, it bought First Interstate Bank of Hawaii.
- In 1992, it acquired East West Bank, which had branches in Honolulu and Maui.
- In 1993, it bought Pioneer Federal Savings Bank.
In 1996, First Hawaiian bought 31 bank branches in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho from another bank called U.S. Bancorp. To manage these new branches, First Hawaiian created a new bank called Pacific One Bank. In the same year, First Hawaiian also bought American National Bank in Washington state. These branches also became part of Pacific One Bank.
While all these changes were happening, First Hawaiian built its new main office, the First Hawaiian Center. This building is 429 ft (131 m) tall, making it the tallest building in Hawaiʻi.
Mergers and New Ownership
In 1997, Pioneer Federal became part of First Hawaiian, and in 1998, First Hawaiian Creditcorp also merged in.
Later in 1998, First Hawaiian merged with San-Francisco-based Bank of the West. The new, larger company was named BancWest Corporation. The original owners of First Hawaiian, Inc. owned 55% of BancWest, and a French bank called Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) owned 45%.
In 2001, First Hawaiian Bank bought more branches in Guam and Saipan from Union Bank of California. In December of that year, BNP Paribas bought all of First Hawaiian Bank and its parent company, BancWest. Even though BNP Paribas owned them, Bank of the West and First Hawaiian Bank continued to operate as separate banks.
On August 4, 2016, First Hawaiian Bank's shares began to be sold on the NASDAQ stock market. This meant that people could buy parts of the company. By January 2019, Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) had sold all of its shares in First Hawaiian, making it an independent public company once again.
See also
- BNP Paribas, a previous owner of First Hawaiian Bank
- BancWest (Bank of the West), a previous parent company of First Hawaiian Bank
