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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 4:35 p.m., Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Local banks cut prime rate in response to Fed move

Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i's biggest banks announced reductions in their prime lending rates today after the Federal Reserve cut a key lending rate by three-quarters of a percentage point.

First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of Hawaii, American Savings Bank and Central Pacific Bank all said they would cut their prime lending rate to 5.25 percent from 6 percent effective tomorrow.

The Federal Reserve earlier in the day cut the federal funds rate to 2.25 percent. The federal funds rate, the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans, is one of the the tools used by the Fed to control the money supply.