Hawaii officials warned taxpayers Thursday not give out personal information to anyone claiming to be a state of Hawaii Department of Taxation employee on the telephone.

“As a result of the transition to a new tax information system — including the issuance of new tax identification numbers — information will be mailed to each individual taxpayer at the end of August,” the department said in a news release. “If the department needs additional information from taxpayers, the request for information will be mailed to the taxpayer’s mailing address on file.”

“The department will not be contacting taxpayers by telephone for any tax account information, nor will they request additional personal information,” the news release said.

The department said a Kailua-Kona resident recently received a call from someone purporting to be a department employee. The person asked the taxpayer for personal information, saying it was related to the department’s new tax information system.

First Hawaiian stock earns ‘buy’ rating

Compass Point Research & Trading LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based investment bank, recommended that investors buy First Hawaiian Bank stock and said it expects the price to climb to $29 per share in the next 12 months.

The “buy” rating from Compass Point was the first rating since the bank began selling shares to the public last week.

First Hawaiian stock climbed 37 cents, or 1.5 percent, Thursday to close at $24.83.

Low interest rates could have global effects

FRANKFURT, Germany >> Record low interest rates were meant to be a temporary response to the global financial crisis.

But eight years later, rates are still near zero or even below in much of the developed world, and some experts are warning of long-term side effects: a hit to pension savings, pressure on banks, and possible booms and busts in stock markets and real estate.

Some economists argue that people might have to get used to living in a zero-interest world for a lot longer than they expected, or at least one with rates far lower than those in recent decades.

A VR Olympics is OK but TV is still king

NEW YORK >> If you want to glimpse the future of sports broadcasting, you can check out the Rio Olympics in virtual reality. But if you really want to immerse yourself in the competition, just turn on the TV.

NBC, BBC and other Olympic networks around the world are offering the opening and closing ceremonies and selected events in VR, giving viewers a 360-degree perspective — that is, the ability to look up, down and all around — when they wear special headsets. It’s a first in Olympics broadcasting, and NBC itself admits that its more than 100 hours of VR coverage is experimental.

It’s good that television networks are getting a head start on figuring out what works with the new technology. Watching the Olympics in VR can occasionally transport you, giving you the sense of actually being there in Rio. But those moments are still too few and far between.

Forecast lowered on oil demand growth

LONDON >> Global demand for oil will grow less than expected next year due to a weaker world economy, though the oversupply of crude in the market is ending, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.

The Paris-based agency, which consults oil-importing nations, lowered its forecast for demand growth next year to 1.2 million barrels a day from 1.3 million barrels a day previously. That would be a slowdown from this year’s growth of 1.4 million barrels a day.

ON THE MOVE

The Hawai‘i Convention Center has promoted Natalie Tarce Shiinoki to marketing and sales coordinator. She had been international sales coordinator since 2011. She started her career more than a decade ago as a marketing manager for Teriyaki Boy and Sizzlin’ Pepper Steak Restaurants in Manila.

H H H

Hilton Garden Inn Waikiki Beach has announced the following new members of its executive team:

>> Terri Racine is director of revenue. She has 26 years of experience in operations, marketing, sales and revenue management and was previously director of revenue at the Queen Mary.

>> Thushara Perera is director of finance. He was previously director of finance at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore as well as assistant director of finance at the Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley.

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Star-Advertiser staff