According to First Hawaiian Bank, credit and debit card transactions at businesses throughout the state of Hawaii increased by 9.8 percent in 2012 as compared to the year prior. The fourth quarter of the year was exceptionally strong with an increase of 11.3 percent as compared to the same quarter in 2011. President and Chief Executive Officer for First Hawaiian Bank, Bob Harrison, commented, “We’re optimistic. It’s consumer and tourism driven. This really demonstrates that we’re into a solid consumer driven economy. What we’ve got now is strong consumer spending with debit and credit (card transactions) consistently growing year over year for three years now. We see other parts of the economy engaged, namely construction, where there are new projects getting ready to start in the next few months. So that should add to these very solid consumer numbers we’re seeing in the report. Our feeling is that we’re going to see continued improvement,” Harrison said. “I don’t think we’ll see any huge increases, but we’ll see steady growth in 2013.
First Hawaiian Bank is the largest bank in Hawaii with approximately $16.1 billion in assets. The bank has more then 7,500 merchants on their network. For the fourth quarter of 2012, First Hawaiian Bank’s data reflected that hotel credit and debit card transactions increased by 22.6 percent. Restaurants during the fourth quarter increased by 11.5 percent and shipping increased by 41.5 percent.
Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 1-13-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, Realtor®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
www.myhawaiihomesearch.com
www.myhawaiicondo.com
www.myhawaiidreamhome.com
