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He's a Kidder

Allan Landon, the chairman and chief executive of Bank of Hawaii Corp., is pretty serious about making money; his Honolulu company has stayed in the black throughout the credit crisis, and this week it reported a third-quarter profit of $47.4 million.But during its third-quarter earnings call this week, Mr. Landon also showed he likes to have a little fun with the analysts who cover his company.

Brian Sabora, a Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc. analyst, asked Mr. Landon during the call for more color on the company's credit provision level.

Mr. Landon responded, "No."

Mr. Sabora, sounding a bit bemused, said simply, "Fair enough."

Mr. Landon quickly chimed back in, assuring the analyst that he was joking.

Moments later, seeking more color on the provision and on particular loans it covered, Sarin Ryobu, an analyst at BlackRock Inc., tried to go around Mr. Landon, directing a question to Mary Sellers, Bank of Hawaii's vice chairman of corporate risk.

Again, Mr. Landon chimed in. "I have banned Mary from saying anything more about them," the CEO said.

A cascade of laughter followed.

For the record, Bank of Hawaii beefed up its loan-loss reserves in the third quarter. They increased fivefold from a year earlier, to $20.3 million, far exceeding its $7.4 million of net chargeoffs.

The Bright Side

James Rohr, the chairman and CEO of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., faced a heavy dose of skepticism from analysts during a call last week to discuss his company's deal for National City Corp.PNC had said Nat City's credit losses would be roughly twice as high as the seller estimated earlier in the week. An analyst asked Mr. Rohr: "To what degree, relative degree, do you think the U.S. banking system is effectively lying about its losses right now? I think we all think that the banking industry is understanding its loss, but the magnitude of the change in two days sort of implies we are lying a lot. Just your thoughts on that?"

Mr. Rohr would not answer the question.

When asked about the state of the banking sector in general, given that Nat City had a Tier 1 capital ratio of 11% and still was pushed to sell, Mr. Rohr did not mince words. "I think it is going to be a difficult environment in 2009," he said. But he is optimistic about longer-term prospects. "I think in the banking business, the core asset of the banking business is the checking account. The banking industry has been able to go through many, many cycles and many, many mistakes, quite frankly, because of that core deposit franchise." Mr. Rohr said. "National City clearly has a wonderful core deposit franchise," he said. "That is the reason that we are acquiring National City."

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