For the second year in a row, First Hawaiian Bank has been ranked among the top 200 healthiest banks in the nation, according to DepositAccoints.com, a website that tracks the rates of more than 8,000 banks and credit unions nationwide.
For the second year in a row, First Hawaiian Bank has been ranked among the top 200 healthiest banks in the nation, according to DepositAccoints.com, a website that tracks the rates of more than 8,000 banks and credit unions nationwide.
First Hawaiian Bank, ranked in the middle of the pack at No. 114, stood tall in all primary evaluation categories, including Texas Ratio, deposit growth and canalization.
Chris Dods, FHB executive vice president and marketing communications division manager, attributes the national ranking to its relationship with its customers.
“First Hawaiian Bank’s relationship strategy continues to be the key to our bank’s success,” Dods wrote in email. “Our bankers take the time to get to know our customers and will work with them to find financial solutions whether it’s for their own personal use or for expanding or growing their business.”
FHB was the only Hawaii bank to make the list this year, said Patrick Russo, DepositAccounts.com community outreach spokesperson.
“Making the top 200 from First Hawaiian is affirmation that they’re doing a good job managing their assets,” Russo said. “There’s only 49 banks that made it two years in a row and they were one of them.”
Russo said data used to determine the rankings were measured from 2014 financial data with 2013 data reported to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
“First Hawaiian Bank has a Texas Ratio of less than 1 percent, which is excellent,” he said. “Anything under 7 percent is excellent as far as our evaluation goes. Being 1 percent makes them very competitive as far financial health as our evaluation goes.”
The Texas Ratio is an indicator of how much capital a bank has available compared to the total value of loans considered at risk, Russo said.
“Our bank’s strong balance sheet, stable earnings and excellent credit quality, enables us to have sufficient capital to be able to meet the funding needs of our community,” Dods said. “Having the capacity to lend to our customers when they need it helps us stay competitive.”
As of March 31, First Hawaiian Bank had $26.74 million in non-current loans and owned real-estate with $2.83 billion in equity and loan loss allowances on hand to cover it, according to FDIC reports.
“Throughout the various economic cycles, our lending policies have always remained consistent and that has helped to mitigate our risk,” Dods said.
As far as deposit growth, First Hawaiian Bank increased its total deposits by $1.33 billion, an almost 10 percent growth for the year.
“For consumers, it gives them confidence that their bank’s managing their deposits well and that they don’t have anything to fear as far as bank failure,” Russo said.
Moving Forward, Dod said, FHB will continue to be at the side of their “customers at every stage of their life and want to assist them in planning for secure financial future.”
FHB was established in 1858 and currently has over 2,100 employees.
The bank has a total of $18.72 billion in assets, $10.02 billion in loans and $15.18 billion in equity capital.
Rounding the top of the rankings were California First National Bank at No. 1, followed by CommerceWest Bank and Oakworth Capital Bank.
