Hawaii attracted 7 million visitors, $11.4 billion in spending in 2010

By Allison Schaefers
Article from: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Jan 26, 2011

Visitor arrivals to Hawaii grew by 8.7 percent to nearly 7.1 million in 2010 and spending rose 16.2 percent to $11.4 billion.

Arrivals in December grew for the fourteenth straight month and overall spending rose by double-digit increases for the eighth straight month, according to data released today by the Hawaii Tourism Authority.

Total arrivals rose 9.6 percent to 633,730 visitors in December and total spending by these visitors increased 17.9 percent to $1.1 billion. Arrivals in all major markets posted December gains. Visitors from the U.S. West rose by 8.4 percent, visitors from the U.S. East grew by 10.1 percent, visitors from Canada grew by 16.6 percent, visitors from Japan increased by 8.6 percent and cruise ship traffic was up 11.5 percent.

While the results are solid indicators that Hawaii tourism is continuing to gain momentum, the state still has a way to go to achieve full recovery, said Mike McCartney, HTA’s president and chief executive officer.

Single Family Residences

Condominiums

State acquires almost $18M in forgotten funds
Unclaimed property went up in the last fiscal year, compared with the previous year

By Kristen Consillio
Article from: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Jan 24, 2011

The state collected $17.7 million in unclaimed property, including bank accounts, uncashed checks and stocks, last fiscal year — the highest accumulated in a decade.

The state’s Unclaimed Property Program acquired nearly $1.2 million more in the fiscal year ended June 30 compared with the previous year, while paying out $5.7 million to 7,452 claimants, up from nearly $5.5 million paid to 7,681 people the year before.

The average claim since 2006, when the state launched an outreach program to encourage more people to retrieve forgotten funds, was $672.

The lowest claim, which was mailed to the office, was for 19 cents, while the highest in recent years was about $112,000, according to Scott Kami, administrator of the Financial Administration Division at the state Department of Budget and Finance.

“Some people want to make sure the government isn’t holding any of their money,” Kami said.

The reason for the increase in collections is due in part to outreach efforts both to companies that report the overlooked funds as well as prospective claimants, he said.

Unclaimed funds typically consist of bank accounts, stocks, uncashed business checks, safety deposit boxes and various types of insurance proceeds.

COME AND GET IT
Types of unclaimed property:

» Safety deposit boxes

» Deposits held by utility companies

» Dormant savings and checking accounts

» Insurance and medical refunds

» Shares of stock

» Uncashed traveler’s checks, money orders, dividend checks, payroll checks

Source: State Department of Budget and Finance Unclaimed Property Program

MISSING SOMETHING?
How to find out whether you have unclaimed property:

In Hawaii
» Search for your name at http://www.ehawaii.gov/lilo/app.

» E-mail unclaimedproperty@hawaii.gov.

» Call the state unclaimed property office at 586-1589

Outside Hawaii
» Visit http://www.unclaimed.org or http://www.missingmoney.com.

“Where we see a lot of unclaimed property in part because of your tourism (industry) is going to be with the transient work force,” said Valerie Jundt, president of Boston-based nonprofit Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization, which has more than 300 members that include banks, insurance companies, oil and gas firms, and retailers.

Unclaimed property scenarios include people who have multiple jobs and do not notify employers when they move; shareholders of a company that merge with another firm; or part-time residents using Hawaii as a second home who forget about bank accounts here, she said.

The company also sees high unclaimed property rates in college towns as students forget to collect deposits for utilities or cable, she added.

“Especially with all the identity theft that’s been going on in recent years with technology, people don’t necessarily share as openly with their personal lives, and they aren’t going to be as open where they have certain accounts or have transactions that occur,” Jundt said.

Makiki resident Celia Suzuki, 54, retrieved about $200 last year for herself, her parents and two siblings. While her portion was only $9.50 for uncollected dividends, Suzuki said, “every penny counts.”

She even checked the state website for friends who might have forgotten funds.

“One classmate and his wife on Maui had $1,000 in savings they totally had forgotten about,” Suzuki said.

If the property is not claimed, it goes to the state budget. The program pays all proven claims each year. If there is more than $1.3 million left after paying the claims, the excess goes to the general fund, a statutory requirement.

Approximately $12 million in unclaimed property was transferred to the general fund last fiscal year, up from about $10 million in fiscal 2009.

“It’s one of the ways that states are supplementing their revenue,” said Kim Sawyer, president and general counsel for Locator Services Group Ltd., a Boston-based firm that helps corporate clients recover unclaimed funds.

“The perspective states take is it shouldn’t be a windfall to private companies that are holding onto dormant assets. Rather, citizens of states should benefit by state governments having the ability to utilize these funds until the rightful owners come forward.”

Hawaii has no statute of limitations for unclaimed property and does not charge a fee to claimants, who must fill out a form with personal information, including Social Security number and explanation of ownership.

The state faces challenges at times, especially when people have common names, but said most claims are returned.

“We do get a lot of claims for John Smith,” Kami said. “You could have one John Smith file a claim for all John Smiths. We need to make sure we are getting it to the right people.”

Nationally, at least $32.9 billion is collectively being held by states and other agencies for 117 million accounts, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators.

The state program, which has nine workers, is currently focusing efforts on catching up on claims processing. It can go back 20 years to try and verify ownership through a people finder subscription website.

MMMC poised to be among state’s largest heart programs
Improving viability

By CLAUDINE SAN NICOLAS, Staff Writer
Article from: The Maui News

WAILUKU – With two new interventional cardiologists on staff, Maui Memorial Medical Center recorded its first angioplasty just three days into the new year.

Two more procedures – used to open blocked or narrowed coronary arteries – were successfully done at the end of last week, with the number of angioplasties projecting to run as high as 200 on Maui by the close of 2011.

“This is huge,” said Maui Memorial Chief Executive Officer Wesley Lo. “It’s something we’ve been working to do for a long time.”

Last November, Drs. Colin Lee and Joseph Chambers – colleagues who attended the same medical school – joined the cardiology and cardiovascular team of physicians at Maui’s only acute-care hospital.

“The center is poised to become one of the largest and most comprehensive heart programs in the state,” read an announcement of the latest development at Maui Memorial’s Heart Brain and Vascular Center.

Lee and Chambers spent their first eight weeks at work meeting with staff and orienting medical personnel to the angioplasty procedure and what it can do for patients.

Angioplasty is a common medical procedure, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, that may be used to:

* Improve symptoms of chest pain or discomfort.

* Reduce damage to the heart muscle caused by a heart attack.

* Reduce the risk of death in some patients.

Lee and Chambers each have more than 20 years of experience in angioplasty, treating thousands of patients on the Mainland. More than a million people annually in the United States undergo angioplasty, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.

Under Lo’s leadership, the hospital received final approval for a state certificate of need in July 2007 to offer cardiac procedures including angioplasty and open heart surgery.

Maui Memorial estimates that as many as 400 cardiovascular cases have been transferred off-island annually in the last two or three years because of the hospital’s inability to provide acute interventional care such as angioplasty. The medivac expense alone costs approximately $18,000 per patient, Lo said.

With angioplasty now offered at Maui Memorial, Lo said residents can be treated near their homes and be spared the transportation costs of being flown elsewhere. Angioplasties are covered by most medical insurance plans, and Lo’s office has already contacted the state’s major health insurers to inform them of Maui Memorial’s newest cardiac services.

In developing its cardiac unit, Lo brought on board cardiac surgeon Dr. Pat Cochran to lead the heart center and a team of cardiovascular doctors. Cochran served as the standby surgeon while the first angioplasty was performed at Maui Memorial.

Since Cochran’s hiring, two other noninvasive cardiologists have been added to the hospital’s staff – Drs. Jonathan Allen and Leslie Oberst. Dr. Koonlawee Nademanee, a renowned physician in cardiac electrophysiology, also is listed as part of the cardiac team and sees patients at Maui Memorial several times a year.

The first angioplasty procedure at Maui Memorial was completed Jan. 3 on 72-year-old Ruth Shorting, a visitor from Canada who experienced chest pains during a trip to Maui.

Shorting was admitted through the emergency room after reporting worsening chest pains. After a consultation with Oberst, Shorting was referred for a diagnostic angiogram with doctors determining that she needed an angioplasty.

Together, Lee and Chambers performed the procedure to treat what appeared to be a critical coronary blockage in Shorting.

The patient’s chest pain was resolved with no heart damage, and she was discharged after two days of observation.

Contacted in Canada, Shorting was grateful for her treatment.

“I could not have asked for a better hospital, and my daughter works in a hospital, so I know,” she said. “From the doctor’s office to the ER and procedure, everything just went so smoothly. It was just an amazing experience.”

Lee and Chambers described Maui Memorial’s cardiac center and its equipment as “state of the art.” They acknowledged that they had established medical practices and careers on the Mainland – Lee in Idaho, and Chambers in Oregon, but they wanted to come to Maui so they could focus on medicine.

“This is a rare opportunity because the services are needed. I figure why not do it where it’s important,” Chambers said.

For Lee, a 1974 Punahou School graduate, coming to Maui allowed him to fulfill a dream he had as a youngster to work and then retire on the Valley Isle.

“I’m really thrilled about the opportunity to contribute to the community,” he said.

Lo said the cardiac center and angioplasty procedures themselves could generate thousands of dollars for Maui Memorial, a state community hospital, and help reduce its annual budget deficits.

“This should have a major impact on us over time,” Lo said. “Certainly, it’s a start in the right direction toward improving our viability. Whether we’ll be entirely out of a deficit, I don’t know,” he said.

Lee and Chambers said angioplasties will require a referral from a patient’s primary physician. “We say to people this is not an easy fix,” Lee said.

About one in 500 angioplasties result in serious complications; and about one in 1,000 result in death, Lee said. The procedure takes about 90 minutes to complete. A patient would need to stay in the hospital for one to three days after the procedure.

First Hawaiian profits rose 4% in fourth quarter
The state’s largest bank grew its assets to a record $15.2B in 2010 despite the economy

By Dave Segal
Article from: Honolulu Star-Advertiser

First Hawaiian Bank’s earnings rose 4 percent in the fourth quarter to $50.2 million and its assets reached a record $15.2 billion despite an economy that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Don Horner expects to remain sluggish through 2011.

The state’s largest bank in terms of assets said yesterday it ended the year with $212.6 million in net income, down 7.8 percent over a $230.5 million profit in 2009 that included a one-time leverage lease tax gain of $29.4 million for the sale of leased equipment.

Excluding the tax gain, First Hawaiian’s core earnings for 2010 were up 5.8 percent from $201 million in 2009. In the fourth quarter of 2009, First Hawaiian earned $48.3 million.

Horner said he expects the state economy to remain sluggish this year because businesses remain in a wait-and-see mode despite signs of recovery.

“They have not begun to reinvest in their businesses because they’re remaining cautious,” Horner said. “Therefore, they are not adding to inventory or hiring or beginning construction projects because they’re still not confident in the future. There’s more cautious optimism in 2011 than there was in 2010, but that optimism is, at best, guarded because they still have this attitude of wait and see.”

Still, First Hawaiian was able to increase its portfolio of total loans and leases 3.3 percent to $8.3 billion from 2009 when it reached $8 billion for the first time. During 2010, the bank made in excess of $2.5 billion in new loans compared with more than $2 billion in 2009.

“Even though the bank had an uptick in loan demand and was one of the few banks in the state that grew its portfolio, the increase was fairly modest,” Horner said. “When we see loan growth in the 5 percent growth area, I will be more optimistic that the business investment community has gotten off the bench and gotten back into the game. Most businesses in the state continue to be very conservative and cautious and actually continue to pare down their expenses on the balance sheet as opposed to making investments.”

First Hawaiian’s assets were up 10.9 percent at year-end from $13.7 billion a year earlier while total deposits rose 2.7 percent to $10.5 billion from $10.2 billion. During the quarter, the bank set aside $12.9 million to cover potential loan losses compared with $11.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Nonperforming assets to total assets remained low at 0.25 percent compared with 0.27 percent a year earlier.

First Hawaiian, a wholly owned subsidiary of French banking giant BNP Paribas, is not required to separately report its earnings but does so voluntarily each quarter.

The Honolulu-based bank, founded in 1858, has 58 branches in Hawaii, three on Guam and two on Saipan.