A port needed a bank
First Hawaiian Bank’s origins lie in Honolulu’s nineteenth-century trade. As whaling ships called for supplies, merchants needed more dependable banking than a general store could provide. Charles Reed Bishop and William A. Aldrich opened Bishop & Co. on August 17, 1858, under the laws of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The bank’s own history records $4,784.25 of deposits on its first day. It was a small beginning for an institution that would follow Hawaii through plantation agriculture, statehood and mass tourism. [3]
The business now serves households and companies with deposits, residential and commercial lending, cards, merchant payments, private banking and trust services. A household might encounter it through a home loan or credit card; a business through an operating account, property loan or financing for vehicle inventory. Its 2025 annual report describes 49 branches in total: 45 in Hawaii, three in Guam and one in Saipan. Those are year-end network figures, not a count of 49 Hawaii branches plus the Pacific locations. [4]
Partnership, branches and a succession of names
Samuel M. Damon bought Bishop & Co. from Bishop in 1895. The first Hilo branch opened in 1910, followed by Waimea on Kauai in 1911. The partnership incorporated in 1919 as Bank of Bishop & Co., Ltd. Subsequent combinations and charter changes brought a succession of names, including Bishop First National Bank of Honolulu and First National Bank of Hawaii. The First Hawaiian Bank name arrived in 1969. [3]
The institution added services as the economy and technology changed: Cooke Trust Company was acquired in 1966, a Guam branch opened in 1970, and ATMs arrived in 1972. A holding company, First Hawaiian, Inc., was formed in 1974. That structure placed ownership of the bank in a separate corporation; it did not make the parent itself the insured deposit-taking institution. [3]
Expansion also involved absorbing other banks. First Hawaiian acquired First Interstate Bank of Hawaii in 1991 and Pioneer Federal Savings Bank in 1993. Pioneer initially remained separate before merging into First Hawaiian Bank in 1997. The distinction between purchase and later bank merger is part of the story: customers can remain with a separately chartered institution after its ownership has changed. [3]
A mainland partnership and a French parent
A 1998 transaction brought First Hawaiian Bank and Bank of the West under the newly named BancWest Corporation. Former First Hawaiian shareholders held 55% of BancWest, while Banque Nationale de Paris held 45%. First Hawaiian Bank and Bank of the West remained separate banking institutions under a common parent. Treating that transaction as if one insured bank simply swallowed the other would obscure the actual structure. [3]
BNP Paribas acquired the remaining 55% of BancWest in December 2001. First Hawaiian consequently spent years inside a much larger international financial group. In a separate 2001 transaction, First Hawaiian Bank acquired Union Bank of California’s branch network in Guam and Saipan, strengthening its Pacific customer base. The change in ultimate ownership and the purchase of operating branches were different events. [3]
The path back to independence began with the April 2016 reorganization: the original BancWest spun off its Bank of the West business and changed its own name to First Hawaiian, Inc. The initial public offering followed. Shares began trading on Nasdaq in August 2016. BNP Paribas completed its exit in February 2019. An IPO did not itself mean that all ownership ties had ended on the first trading day; the complete separation came later. [4][7]
How the present-day business works
First Hawaiian combines consumer lending with commercial banking. Its annual report describes loans for residential property, indirect automobile financing, commercial real estate, construction, and commercial and industrial borrowers. Auto dealer flooring is financing that helps dealers carry vehicles before customers buy them. That business is different from an installment loan taken out by the eventual car buyer. [4]
Payments and wealth services broaden the relationship. Merchant processing helps businesses accept card payments, while trust and investment services administer money and property for clients. These activities can generate fees without being equivalent to loans owned by the bank. The parent’s business description is therefore broader than a simple inventory of the bank’s balance-sheet assets. [4]
Its island concentration remains important. The 2025 annual report identifies risks from tourism, the strength of the dollar and yen, air transportation, energy costs, construction activity and natural disasters. Those are channels through which changes beyond the bank’s own operations can affect borrowers and depositors together. A varied product menu does not remove the dependence on the economies where customers live and work. [4]
The proposed TriCo combination is a new chapter, not a completed one
On July 13, 2026, First Hawaiian announced an agreement to acquire TriCo Bancshares, parent of California’s Tri Counties Bank. The announced exchange was 2.095 First Hawaiian shares for each TriCo share. Management described a broader Pacific franchise and said it intended to retain the Tri Counties name on the mainland. Those plans do not mean the transaction had already closed. [5]
The September 16 joint proxy statement scheduled both shareholder meetings for October 29, 2026. It describes a sequence in which TriCo ultimately merges into First Hawaiian, Inc., followed by Tri Counties Bank merging into First Hawaiian Bank as the surviving bank. As of this October 5 review, the meetings are still ahead; completion remains subject to required approvals and other closing conditions. TriCo’s assets therefore are not added to First Hawaiian Bank’s June 30 figures below. [6]
The distinction is especially relevant to the brand: retaining Tri Counties branding would not, under the proposed structure, mean retaining a separate insured bank after the bank merger. The proposal connects a California branch franchise with First Hawaiian’s island business, but customer continuity, integration and the benefits described by management remain matters to be established after any closing. [5][6]
The bank behind the brand
The FDIC identifies First Hawaiian Bank as active certificate 17985, a Hawaii-chartered nonmember bank headquartered in Honolulu. First Hawaiian, Inc. is its separate parent. The directory uses January 1, 1858 as its establishment field, while the bank’s own history documents an August 17 opening. [1][3][4]
At June 30, 2026, the insured bank reported $23.649 billion in assets, $20.165 billion in deposits, $14.409 billion in net loans and leases, and $2.820 billion in equity. Securities totaled $5.507 billion. Its $149.278 million of net income is year to date through June, not a quarterly parent-company earnings number. The source reports dollar fields in thousands. [2]
Real-estate loans were $10.740 billion, about 73.7% of $14.577 billion of gross loans and leases; commercial and industrial loans were $1.979 billion. The real-estate category includes residential as well as commercial exposures. These figures describe a deposit-funded lending institution before the proposed TriCo transaction, with both its origins and its continuing economic exposure firmly rooted in Hawaii. [2][4]
Sources
- FDIC institution directory, October 2, 2026 index; reviewed October 5Official sourceBack to text: ↑
- FDIC June 30, 2026 bank financials; dollar fields in thousands; income year to dateOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Hawaiian Bank official history; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6↑7
- First Hawaiian, Inc. 2025 Form 10-K, filed February 27, 2026Filing / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6↑7
- First Hawaiian–TriCo acquisition announcement, July 13, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Hawaiian–TriCo joint proxy statement, September 16, 2026; October 29 meetingsFiling / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First Hawaiian 2016 reorganization disclosure: original BancWest renamed First Hawaiian, Inc.Filing / reportBack to text: ↑