First Hawaiian’s Yamada to retire later this year

Al Yamada, First Hawaiian Bank vice chairman, chief financial officer, treasurer and chief administrative officer, is retiring after more than two decades at the company.

Yamada will be succeeded on June 1 by Michael Ching, managing partner of the Hawaii office of Ernst & Young LLP.

"Al has been a key member of our management team for a long, long time and we’ll miss him," said Bob Harrison, chairman, president and CEO of First Hawaiian.

Ching is a senior finance executive with more than two decades of experience in accounting, auditing and advising banking clients in the islands.

"He understands banking and he understands Hawaii," Harrison said.

Ching has worked for Ernst & Young since 1993, specializing in banking and capital markets. He was promoted to partner in 2007, becoming one of the youngest partners in Hawaii. He has been managing partner of the local office since 2013.

Discount housing broker Redfin opens Hawaii office

Seattle-based real estate firm Redfin has entered Hawaii’s housing brokerage industry with its first office. The full-service company, which pays agents a salary plus a bonus tied to published customer ratings, announced the office’s opening Wednesday.

The office is at 1441 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1115, and led by Mike DeMello, a Hawaii native who previously worked for Prudential Locations and later worked on the mainland. DeMello is joined by Matt Smith and Danny Fernandez as associate agents. Redfin, which was founded in 2006, charges discounted rates. As a seller’s agent, Redfin charges 1.5 percent instead of 3 percent. As a buyer’s agent, Redfin collects 3 percent from the seller, of which it typically passes a little more than 0.5 percent to the buyer.

Honolulu is No. 5 in EV-friendly cities

Honolulu ranks fifth in the 10 top friendliest metropolitan areas for electric vehicle drivers, according to data released Monday from ChargePoint, an electric vehicle charging network.

The Campbell, Calif.-based company scored the cities based on the number of EVs on the road and the number of charging stations available on the ChargePoint network as of Dec. 31, 2014.

At the end of October, Hawaii passed the 3,000 mark for the number of registered EVs.

There are 422 public charging stations in Hawaii, many of which are free. That means Hawaii has one charging station for every seven vehicles.

Beating Honolulu was the San Francisco Bay Area, followed by Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego.

Austin, Texas, ranked sixth followed by Detroit, Atlanta, Denver and Portland.

NextEra subsidiary will power ePrix

Florida Power & Light Co., a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, the Juno Beach, Fla.-based company looking to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., said Monday it will power the vehicles racing at the Miami ePrix on March 14.

The Miami ePrix is the first race in the United States for the FIA Formula E Championship. The Formula E Championship is the world’s first fully electric racing series in its class for electrically powered racing cars. Beginning in Beijing in September, the Formula E will host races for the competing 10 teams in 10 spots around the world including London, Beijing, Monaco and Buenos Aires.

McDonald’s to drop antibiotics

McDonald’s says it plans to start using chicken raised without antibiotics commonly used in humans, and milk from cows that are not treated with an artificial growth hormone.

The company says the chicken change will take place within the next two years. It says suppliers will still be able to use a type of antibiotic called ionophores that keep chickens healthy and aren’t used in humans. The milk change will take place later this year.

Officials say use of antibiotics can lead to germs becoming resistant to drugs so that they’re no longer effective in treating a particular illness in humans.

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