17th Consecutive Quarter of Positive Growth Overall

View 4th Qtr 2013 Hawaii Business Activity Report (pdf, 7 KB)

(Honolulu, Hawaii April 20, 2014) – The first quarter 2014 First Hawaiian Bank Business Activity Report (BAR) showed an overall 3.82 percent increase for debit and credit card "same store sales" over the comparable period of 2013, according to an announcement today by Keith Nagata, senior vice president and First Hawaiian Bank Business Services Division manager. 

"The rate of growth may have slowed a bit in some sectors, but overall this was the 17^th consecutive quarter of positive growth," Nagata said. "The top two sectors Medical Services and Home Improvement continued quarter over quarter growth that resulted in the highest first quarter increase for both sectors since 2010 and the highest ever quarterly increase for Home Improvement." 

According to the report, 13 of the 16 sectors showed positive gains in the first quarter.  Three categories posted double digit increases in sales volumes:  Medical Services 14.15 percent, Home Improvement 13.92 percent and Other10.38 percent. 

The BAR tracks debit and credit sales activity in 16 different economic sectors including automobile, retail, hotels, home improvement, restaurants, shipping and travel, among other categories.  

First Hawaiian Bank is the largest local processor of credit and debit card transactions in Hawaii.  In 2013, the bank processed $4.4 billion worth of customer credit and debit card sales transactions.  The bank provides merchant services to nearly 7,000 First Hawaiian Bank merchant locations throughout Hawaii, Guam, CNMI and the U.S. Mainland. 

First Hawaiian Bank (fhb.com) with total assets of $17.1 billion was founded in 1858 and is Hawaii's largest and oldest bank. The bank processes all major U.S. credit cards as well as JCB, China Union Pay and BC Global Card.