For nearly two decades, Diane Shimabukuro has been a loyal customer at a major bank.

But on Thursday, the Kane'ohe resident moved her money to the fledgling Pacific Rim Bank to take advantage of its higher interest rates. Shimabukuro, a mortgage broker, said her old bank, which she declined to name, only paid 0.4 percent interest on a money market account while Pacific Rim paid 2 percent.

"What they (the established banks) are paying you in interest is criminal," Shimabukuro said. "I hate to move money, but I said enough is enough."

After decades of consolidation, Hawai'i's banking industry is seeing the emergence of two new banks that are trying to wrest away consumers like Shimabu-kuro by offering attractive deposit rates.

Since opening on March 3, Pacific Rim has been offering its customers the highest deposit rates among the state's nine banks and thrifts.

The bank, which operates out of a single office at Restaurant Row, pays 3.04 percent interest on a regular savings account, 2 percent on a money market account, 4.09 percent on a six-month certificate of deposit and 4.20 percent on a 12-month CD.

The next-highest rates can be found at Territorial Savings Bank, where customers get 1.41 percent on savings accounts, 0.4 percent on a money market account, 4 percent on a six-month CD and 4.25 percent on a 12-month CD, according to a recent Advertiser survey of local deposit rates.

Posted rates at the remaining seven financial institutions range between 0.4 percent and 1 percent for savings accounts, 0.4 percent and 2 percent for money market accounts and 1.25 percent and 3 percent for six-month CDs.

A one-year CD at Hawai'i's largest banks carries an interest rate of 1.65 percent to 3.25 percent.

Ohana Pacific Bank, which hopes to open a single-office bank in May, plans to offer rates similar to those provided by Pacific Rim, although the bank says it can't provide specifics until it receives regulatory approval from the state and federal officials.

"Any new bank has to induce customers from other banks," said Ohana Pacific's CEO Woon Hyun, whose company will focus on the local Korean-American community. "We have to compete with the existing banks by providing competitive rates."

Peter Biggs, senior executive vice president at the Bank of Hawaii, said rates are only one of several features that the Bank of Hawaii relies on to attract new customers.

Most customers look at the whole package offered by banks, including convenience of a large branch network and services such as a 24-hour call center for banking questions, Biggs said.

Wayne Kirihara, senior vice president and marketing director at Central Pacific Bank, said customers may be misled if all they do is compare banks based on interest on savings accounts with no minimum when they may be eligible for better rates.

Starting today, Central Pacific's exceptional savings account will pay 4 percent interest on balances of $25,000 or more. The account also offers free checking, traveler's checks and notary services.

If a customer just looks at Central Pacific's rate on regular savings accounts, which was 0.4 percent last week, they miss out on the whole picture, Kirihara says.

First Hawaiian Bank also offers higher rates on its CDs for loyal customers, including an 11-month CD that pays an interest rate of 3.95 percent on a minimum deposit of $5,000. The bank's standard rate for its one-year CD is 1.75 percent.

Unlike established banks, startup banks are under pressure to attract deposits. Those deposits are needed so that the banks have enough capital to make loans, which is where they make their profits.

The smaller banks can't compete with the big players when it comes to number of branches and assets, said Austin Imamura, Pacific Rim's CEO.

For instance, Bank of Hawaii has 73 branches statewide and assets of $10.5 billion while First Hawaiian has 57 branches in Hawai'i and about $11.6 billion in assets.

"We have no choice" than to offer higher rates, said Imamura, a longtime executive at Central Pacific Bank and City Bank.

The big banks aren't likely to change their rates because of the newcomers, but they also aren't that far off the national averages for interest rates.

Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, a Florida-based company that tracks the nation's banking industry, said the average interest rate for banks across the nation is 0.54 percent for savings accounts and 0.78 percent for money market accounts. The average rate for a six-month CD is 3.22 percent and 3.76 percent for a one-year CD.

Because of their relative size, the startups can grow quickly by offering higher deposit rates with little impact on the market share of the big banks, McBride said.

"They don't care about us," Pacific Rim's Imamura said of the big banks. "We're more of a nuisance to them. I like it that way."

Reach Rick Daysog at rdaysog@honoluluadvertiser.com.