Loans help propel Bank of Hawaii’s earnings 25.5%
Bank of Hawaii Corp. reported a 25.5 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings as it generated solid loan growth and benefited from rising interest rates.
The state’s second-largest bank said today that net income jumped to $53.9 million, or $1.30 a share, from $43 million, or $1.01 a share in the year-earlier period. The earnings per share were 5 cents shy of analysts’ consensus estimate but, excluding nonrecurring items, were in line with core earnings.
Loans rose 7.7 percent to $10.45 billion and deposits rose 1 percent to $15.03 billion.
The bank’s fourth-quarter net interest margin — the spread between what it earns on loans and what it pays on deposits — rose 12 basis points to 3.10 percent from 2.98 percent. Bankoh said its net interest margin would have been 2 basis points higher last quarter had it not sold its MyBankoh Rewards credit card business — with $51.6 million in outstanding assets — to Barclays Bank Delaware so that it could focus on its co-branded Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii World Elite Mastercard program.
Bankoh’s stock closed up $3.46, or 4.5 percent, at $80.25. The financial results were announced before the market opened.