The Federal Reserve Board of San Francisco will host a public hearing in Hawaii to address community concerns about Bank of Hawaii’s withdrawal from American Samoa.  The hearing is set for 10 a.m. Tuesday in the Tapa Tower of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel. Residents in American Samoa will be able to testify via video conference. 

BOH announced its decision to close its American Samoa branches in November last year. District manager Hobbs Lowson said in a press release: 

“After serving the American Samoa market for more than 40 years, this was a decision that was not made lightly. In 2000, we made the strategic decision to centralize our footprint back to our core Hawaii and Guam markets, but opted to also keep a presence in American Samoa, where we felt we could deliver the appropriate level of service. However, it’s become increasingly difficult to maintain that strategy in American Samoa due to its geographic isolation from our other markets.”

Read BOH’s announcement here.

A community meeting to discuss the issue before Tuesday’s hearing will be hosted at University of Hawaii on Saturday by Faith Action for Community Equity.  For more information,  contact director Drew Astolfi at 782-3674 or via email at drewastolfi@facehawaii.org.

—Eileen Chao