So Doggone Local

When Central Pacific Bank’s parent company, Central Pacific Financial Corp., announced in April that it was targeting City Bank parent CB Bancshares Inc. for a takeover, it set the business community abuzz. Not just because it was the first hostile takeover attempt of a Hawaii bank in recent memory, but also because it brought the “local” question to the forefront once again.

Central Pacific’s Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Clint Arnoldus, sparked the debate when he pointed out to analysts that Central Pacific was more local than Hawaii’s big banks, First Hawaiian and Bank of Hawaii, because of First Hawaiian’s new French parent BNP Paribas Inc. and the top Bankoh managers who have recently been imported from the Mainland.

This provoked a sharp response from First Hawaiian honcho and longtime local power broker Walter Dods. He said he was ready to debate Arnoldus in pidgin anytime. You could almost hear the unspoken challenge, “Step outside, brah.”

CPB felt obliged to trot out full-page ads showing Arnoldus surrounded by his decidedly local board of directors for weeks after that. It should be noted that Duane Kurisu, the chairman of PacificBasin Communications, the company that publishes this magazine, is a director of CB Bancshares Inc.

Funny how the questions of what it means to be local and what comprises local values percolate to the surface here so often. Whether it’s a question of the worthiness of a political candidate or the viability of a business, the local-factor is undeniable.

About a year ago, American Savings Bank President and CEO Connie Lau told me her bank tends to be low-key like many of the local folks it services (much to the chagrin of the marketing department). “You’re just good, but you don’t say you’re good,” she explained. That is what being local is all about.

CPB’s style in this takeover attempt has been described to me by different local folks on several occasions in the following manner: Picture Alex the Collie and the teal bench, respective advertising symbols for CPB and City Bank. Well, what do you think Alex is doing to the bench right now?

As one wag in my office noted: Now, if the purebred sheltie were a poi dog, it would be a different story.

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