Bank of Hawaii to Shift Some Branches to Grocery Stores

Bank of Hawaii Corp. in Honolulu will close three traditional branches and open three others located within supermarkets this year.

The $13.8 billion-asset company will close two branches on the island of Oahu and one on the Big Island in late April, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Sunday. The bank will then open one in-store branch on Oahu and two on the Neighbor Islands, according to the news report, and it intends to close its Pearl Harbor branch and is in discussions to reopen it at another location.

The bank reported in January that fourth-quarter earnings totaled $39.2 million, down 3.4% from a year earlier, because of a steep drop in fee income. Noninterest income fell 15.7% year over year, to $43.4 million, because of lower debit card revenue since the new caps on interchange fees went into effect on Oct. 1.

Bank of Hawaii is not the only bank looking to move branches into stores as fee income has shrunk. Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, said in January that it would close 29 traditional branches and open as many as 40 branches inside Giant Eagle grocery stores. Huntington also said that fourth-quarter revenue from debit transactions declined $17.3 million from the prior quarter.