15 Feb 2013

Bank of Hawaii pulls out of American Samoa

6:16 pm on 15 February 2013

All American Samoa customers of the Bank of Hawai'i have until tomorrow to close their local accounts or transfer them to the bank's main branch in Honolulu.

The Bank is shutting down its 2 branches in the territory in the middle of next month.

The Hawai'i based financial institution, which has been a fixture of the local business community since 1969, announced last November that it was closing local operations.

It said then it would concentrate on its core markets in Hawai'i and Guam.

The bank has been running advertisements locally saying it will not accept loan applications, new deposits, or requests to retain accounts after tomorrow.

Last week, the governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga, wrote to the Bank asking it to delay the withdrawal by 12 months, or at least enough time to allow ANZ Amerika Samoa Bank to implement other banking services.