honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, March 9, 2002

Pacific Century rewards its top executives

By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer

Pacific Century Financial Corp. President Richard Dahl could get as much as $4.5 million in bonuses after he leaves the company later this month, a reward for slashing the banking company's overseas operations and helping boost earnings over the last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Dahl, chief architect of the company's rapid expansion and later withdrawal from the Pacific Rim over the past eight years, will receive a $1.5 million bonus at the end of the month.

Dahl will also receive between $1.25 million and $3 million more in incentives related to the divestiture of the company's overseas businesses over the next several months as those transactions close. Pacific Century raised Dahl's base salary more than 14 percent last year to $600,000 from $525,000 annually, and he received another $44,249 in other compensation, which included a car allowance and club fees, according to the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

It was Dahl's first pay raise since 1998 when Pacific Century, parent company of Bank of Hawaii, ran into financial trouble and launched a series of cost-cutting measures.

Michael O'Neill, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said Dahl has played a major part in restructuring the company and his compensation reflected that role.

When O'Neill announced a restructuring of Pacific Century in April, he took control of the bank's day-to-day operations and gave Dahl the task of selling underperforming operations. Dahl announced last month he would leave the bank March 31.

O'Neill took home nearly $2.4 million in salary, bonuses and other compensation last year in his first full year as chief executive, including nearly $900,000 in moving expenses related mostly to the sale of his home in California before moving to Hawai'i.

"That was the lion's share of (the expenses)," O'Neill said.

Also receiving a raise last year was Alton Kuioka, the company's vice chairman for commercial banking, who took home $611,585 in salary and bonuses, up 16.5 percent from $525,000 in the previous year. He also received $41,382 in other compensation from the bank.

Pacific Century, Hawai'i's second-largest financial services company in terms of assets, reported earning $117.8 million, or $1.46 per diluted share, last year.

That was up 3.6 percent from $113.7 million, or $1.42 cents, in the previous year.

Reach Frank Cho at fcho@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8088.