Posted on: Thursday, May 31, 2001

Former BofA exec to head Bank of the Orient here

By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer

San Francisco's Bank of the Orient, which acquired the assets of the failed Bank of Honolulu seven months ago, will name a former Bank of America executive today to lead its Hawai'i operations.

Taking the post will be Manuel Nova, who ran Bank of America's Hawai'i community development banking operations until that bank merged with North Carolina's NationsBank and decided to close the business last year.

Nova, 45, is the second former Bank of America executive named to run a Hawai'i bank since former BofA Chief Financial Officer Michael O'Neill took over Bank of Hawaii in November.

"I am here to grow the bank," Nova said.

Nova said Bank of the Orient will look to grow its market share in Hawai'i steadily through branch and portfolio acquisitions.

"That is something we are discussing. But we are not going to do anything in a knee-jerk reaction," Nova said.

When Bank of the Orient took over, it had $53 million in deposits. Deposits have since slid slightly to $48 million.

The bank is closing its office in the Davies Pacific Center and consolidating those operations with its downtown branch in the Dillingham Transportation Building on the corner of Queen and Bishop Streets. It is also installing new computer systems in August. It will offer Internet banking and toll-free customer support.

But Bank of the Orient will not try to be everything to everyone, Nova said.

Instead Nova said he hopes to form a partnership with other banks, or government programs similar to what he did as head of BofA's community development banking in Hawai'i.

Bank of the Orient was the winning bidder for the former Bank of Honolulu's assets after it was seized by federal banking regulators in October. Bank of Honolulu had been bleeding red ink financially for years, and its former chairman and largest stockholder, Sukamto Sia, had been arrested on bankruptcy fraud weeks earlier. Sia is awaiting trial.

Correction: The Bank of the Orient is closing its office in the Davies Pacific Center and consolidating those operations with its downtown branch in the Dillingham Transportation Building on the corner of Queen and Bishop Streets. The status of the operations after the closure was unclear in a previous version of this story.