First Hawaiian Bank has agreed to buy all of the Hawaiian retail deposits of a General Electric Capital Corp. unit for an undisclosed sum.
With the deal, which is expected to be concluded by yearend pending approval by state and federal regulators, First Hawaiian Bank will gain about $200 million of deposits in passbook savings accounts and certificates of deposit.
Andrew X. Lamparello, vice president of deposit products and market research for the bank, said the deal made economic sense. "This is a good opportunity to supplement our normal marketing opportunities" for gaining deposits, he said.
At the end of March, First Hawaiian Bank had $5.7 billion of deposits and $7.7 billion of assets, and was ranked as Hawaii's second-largest bank, after the $11 billion-asset Bank of Hawaii.
Mr. Lamparello said that First Hawaiian will be able to sell an expanded set of services to the roughly 5,000 depositors who are having their money transferred.
For example, the GE Capital unit, GECC Financial Corp., does not have automated teller machines, nor does it offer checking accounts, as First Hawaiian does.
"We look forward to having the opportunity to service GECC Financial deposit customers and providing the best in banking convenience and service," said Walter A. Dods Jr., chairman and chief executive of First Hawaiian Bank.
The last time First Hawaiian gained deposits through an acquisition was in 1993, when it bought Pioneer Federal Savings Bank.
Alan R. Cumpston, a senior vice president of GECC Financial, said the company had been taking FDIC-insured deposits in Hawaii for more than 15 years as a state-chartered depository financial services loan company.
He explained that GECC Financial's CDs and passbook savings accounts were marketed through advertisements, and sold out of one office in downtown Honolulu. GECC Financial has a total of nine offices in Hawaii.
But GECC Financial has made more than $1 billion of loans in the state. Mr. Cumpston said that most of these loans have been funded with wholesale borrowings from the parent company. As a result, officials decided that the GE unit didn't need the retail deposits, and would be better off selling them and focusing its energies on lending.
GECC's loan portfolio consists of residential and commercial real estate loans, equipment financing, auto leasing, and inventory financing.
