Kauai utility names 8 candidates for board
The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative nominating committee announced eight candidates for its board of directors Tuesday.
The board manages the business and policies of the utility. The election for the three open seats is set for March 14.
The eight candidates are Karen S. Baldwin, estate planning attorney and incumbent KIUC director; Stewart V. Burley, principal at Strategic Theories Unlimited and former member of the KIUC board; Harold J. Dias Jr., international representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; Dennis Esaki, owner of Esaki Surveying and a former chairman of the KIUC board; Patrick Gegen, principal with P.S. Gegen Consulting and an incumbent KIUC director; Jan Kimura, self-employed and member of the Kauai Planning Commission; William D. Peterson, retired information technology professional; and Dennis James Rowley, a semiretired high technology professional.
Hawaii Central buys another credit union
Hawaii Central Federal Credit Union’s acquisition of Pacific Island Energy FCU became effective Monday.
Former Pacific Island Energy FCU members will have access to additional financial products and services, including mortgages, a cash rewards credit card program, and business accounts.
They also will have the convenience of online and mobile banking services, access to an expanded network of surcharge-free ATMs and the shared branching system, both locally and nationwide.
Founded in 1937, HCFCU is a community-based credit union that serves more than 15,000 members and has approximately $190 million in assets. Membership to HCFCU is open to all individuals who live, work, worship or attend school in Honolulu County. Businesses and other legal entities in Honolulu County are also eligible for membership.
S&P to pay $1.38B for subprime meltdown
WASHINGTON » More than six years after the financial crisis struck, credit rating giant Standard & Poor’s will be paying a hefty $1.38 billion penalty for its role in fueling the subprime mortgage meltdown. But that doesn’t mean it can’t happen again.
S&P’s settlement announced Tuesday with the U.S. government, 19 states and the District of Columbia marks a public chastening of a major credit rating agency accused of knowingly overrating toxic mortgages that ignited the crisis.
S&P and its competitors are crucial gatekeepers that can affect a company’s or government’s ability to raise or borrow money. In the aftermath of the crisis, federal regulators have imposed some changes on how the rating agencies conduct business.
Yet the fundamental conflict of interest at the heart of the rating agencies’ business remains intact: They continue to be paid by the companies whose securities they rate.
"This doesn’t fix anything," said Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance and a former investment banker. "This is just a traffic ticket."
Corinthian students to receive loan break
WASHINGTON » A federal regulator says Corinthian College students will be forgiven a total of $480 million in loans because the for-profit school used "bogus" job prospects to persuade them to pay tuition with expensive private loans.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says tens of thousands of students received the loans, though it’s unclear how many will benefit from the forgiveness.
More than 60 percent of Corinthian students with those loans defaulted within three years after being subject to interest rates that were roughly twice the rates for federal loans.
Macy’s to buy beauty chain Bluemercury
Macy’s, the big department store operator, said Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire Bluemercury, the spa and beauty chain, for $210 million. For Macy’s, which also owns the Bloomingdales chain of department stores, adding Bluemercury gives it a third brand and an enlarged growing national presence.
Based in Washington, Bluemercury operates 60 stores in 18 states and has a growing e-commerce business. Most of the stores sell a range of cosmetics and beauty products, including a proprietary line of high-end skin care items, and also offer spa treatments.
ON THE MOVE
Alston Hunt Floyd & Ing made the following announcements:
>> J. Blaine Rogers has been named a stockholder/director of the firm. Rogers, who joined the firm in 2008, practices in the areas of commercial litigation, lender liability, real estate and land use, title insurance and escrow, bankruptcy litigation, environmental and cultural resources, collections and foreclosures, constitutional and civil rights, class actions and appellate law.
>> Stockholder/director Ellen Godbey Carson was selected for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peacemaker Award at the annual MLK Celebration at the Church of the Crossroads. For more than 20 years, the church has honored a Hawaii community leader or organization whose life and work exemplify commitment to the ideals of peace, justice and equality in the spirit of King.
