American Savings Bank has donated $65,000 to the American Savings Bank Endowed Scholarship Fund. The company established this scholarship at the University of Hawaii in 1978 and over the last 40 years has awarded it 55 times.

The American Savings Bank Endowed Scholarship supports full-time undergraduate students enrolled at any of the 10 UH campuses with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and in need of financial assistance. Preference is given to students from ASB’s “Bank for Education Ohana Schools.”

U.S. job openings increase to record high of 6.3 million

WASHINGTON >> U.S. employers sharply ramped up their demand for workers in January, advertising 6.3 million jobs at the end of the month, the most on records dating back 17 years. The number of job openings soared 645,000 in January, the Labor Department said Friday, the largest one-month increase in 2-1/2 years. The number of people hired ticked up and fewer Americans quit in January compared with the previous month. The report shows that overall hiring increased by a much smaller amount than job openings, suggesting that employers are having difficulty finding the workers they need.

February housing starts in U.S. decline 7%

WASHINGTON >> U.S. homebuilders broke ground on fewer apartment complexes in February, causing overall housing starts to fall 7 percent. The Commerce Department said Friday that housing starts last month were at a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.24 million, an anticipated drop after construction in January hit 1.33 million.

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ON THE MOVE

>> Ameriprise Financial has announced that Kevin Y. Isoda is a new private wealth adviser for the company. He is among 15 percent of approximately 10,000 financial advisers within Ameriprise Financial who have achieved this status. Isoda has served Ameriprise’s Honolulu area for the past 27 years.

>> Central Pacific Bank has promoted Dhwanil Malji to vice president and mortgage compliance manager from senior compliance officer. His 11 years of financial industry experience includes being executive vice president, CUCE at Greater Kentucky Credit Union Inc.

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