Hawaii State FCU sees double-digit loan growth as revenue slips

Loan balances at Hawaii State FCU grew by double digits in 2019, the Honolulu-based institution reported Thursday, topping the $1 billion mark and leading to its sixth consecutive year of loan growth.

Along with an 11.4% increase in loan balances during 2019, deposits were also up 11.5% last year, as Hawaii State and other credit unions pushed for more deposits to boost liquidity. Asset growth stood at 11.1%, while membership was up 6.9% to nearly 114,000 members.

“While we are very proud of Hawaii State FCU’s 2019 results overall, we are especially proud of our deposit growth, which has continued to outpace most of the local banks this year,” President and CEO Andrew Rosen said in a press release. “Our growth in deposits can be directly attributed to the success of our Relationship Max high-yield savings account product that we unveiled in January 2019. As a result, we’ve more than doubled the interest dividend we paid out in 2019, putting an additional $5.8 million back into our members’ pockets. This caused our net income to decrease, but unlike most traditional banks, we’re pleased with these results because it means we’re doing right by our members by paying fair deposit rates.”

Net income was down nearly 38% to $6.11 million for the year, due in part to costs associated with opening three new branches, with office occupancy and operations expenses rising by 17.75% from 2018, according to call report data. Rosen added additional expansions are in the works for 2020.

As reported, the credit union’s net income in 2018 was more than double what it earned in 2017.