HONOLULU, April 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Central Pacific Bank (CPB), primary subsidiary of Central Pacific Financial Corp (NYSE: CPF), and each member bank of the TSUBASA Alliance enhancing Financial System (TSUBASA) of Japan today signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to mutually explore business opportunities between Japan and Hawaii through cooperation and the sharing of ideas.

TSUBASA is made up of six regional banks throughout Japan: The Chiba Bank, Ltd., The Daishi Bank, Ltd., The Chugoku Bank, Ltd., The Iyo Bank, Ltd., The Toho Bank, Ltd., and The North Pacific Bank, Ltd. The alliance was established to investigate and research advanced IT technologies including Fintech.

"We are honored to be associated with this distinguished group," said Catherine Ngo, President & CEO, Central Pacific Bank. "This is a great opportunity to establish mutually beneficial relationships between Central Pacific Bank, the TSUBASA Alliance banks and our collective customers."

Hawaii serves as a vital testing ground for Japanese firms wishing to expand to the U.S. Mainland, and is an attractive market because of its large Japanese-American community that is open to Japanese products. CPB's International Banking division is uniquely qualified to assist Japanese firms who wish to expand their business to the U.S., as well as to introduce Hawaii businesses that are pursuing the Japan market, to Japan banks.

The agreements with TSUBASA resulted from CPB's relationship with The North Pacific Bank, Ltd. established through a similar MOU signed in August, 2015.

About TSUBASA Alliance enhancing Financial System
The TSUBASA Alliance enhancing Financial System is comprised of six regional banks in Japan with total assets in U.S. Dollars as follows: The Chiba Bank, Ltd., $118 billion, based in Chiba; The Daishi Bank, Ltd., $47 billion, based in Niigata; The Chugoku Bank, Ltd., $69 billion, based in Okayama; The Iyo Bank, Ltd., $58 billion, based in Ehime; The Toho Bank, Ltd., $52 billion, based in Fukushima; and  The North Pacific Bank, Ltd., $75 billion, based in Hokkaido.

About Central Pacific Financial Corp.
Central Pacific Financial Corp. is a Hawaii-based bank holding company with approximately $5.4 billion in assets.  Central Pacific Bank, its primary subsidiary, operates 35 branches and 103 ATMs in the state of Hawaii, as of December 31, 2016.  For additional information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.centralpacificbank.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements concerning projections of revenues, income/loss, earnings/loss per share, capital expenditures, dividends, capital structure, net interest margin or other financial items, concerning plans and objectives of management for future operations and expectations regarding our Memorandums of Understanding with the TSUBASA Alliance enhancing Financial System, concerning future economic performance, or concerning any of the assumptions underlying or relating to any of the foregoing. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts, and may include the words "believes," "plans," "intends," "expects," "anticipates," "forecasts," "hopes," "should," "estimates" or words of similar meaning. While we believe that our forward-looking statements and the assumptions underlying them are reasonably based, such statements and assumptions are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties, and thus could later prove to be inaccurate or incorrect. Accordingly, actual results could materially differ from projections for a variety of reasons, to include, but not be limited to: adverse changes in the financial performance and/or condition of our borrowers and, as a result, increased loan delinquency rates, deterioration in asset quality, and losses in our loan portfolio; our ability to capitalize on our Memorandums of Understanding with the member banks of the TSUBASA Alliance enhancing Financial System; the impact of local, national, and international economies and events (including natural disasters such as wildfires, tsunamis, storms and earthquakes) on the Company's business and operations and on tourism, the military, and other major industries operating within the Hawaii market and any other markets in which the Company does business; deterioration or malaise in domestic economic conditions, including any further destabilization in the financial industry and deterioration of the real estate market, as well as the impact of declining levels of consumer and business confidence in the state of the economy in general and in financial institutions in particular; changes in estimates of future reserve requirements based upon the periodic review thereof under relevant regulatory and accounting requirements; the impact of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, changes in capital standards, other regulatory reform, including but not limited to regulations promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, government-sponsored enterprise reform, and any related rules and regulations on our business operations and competitiveness; the costs and effects of legal and regulatory developments, including the resolution of legal proceedings or regulatory or other governmental inquiries and the results of regulatory examinations or reviews; ability to successfully implement our initiatives to lower our efficiency ratio; the effects of and changes in trade, monetary and fiscal policies and laws, including the interest rate policies of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; inflation, interest rate, securities market and monetary fluctuations; negative trends in our market capitalization and adverse changes in the price of the Company's common stock; political instability; acts of war or terrorism; changes in consumer spending, borrowings and savings habits; failure to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting or disclosure controls and procedures; technological changes; changes in the competitive environment among financial holding companies and other financial service providers; the effect of changes in accounting policies and practices, as may be adopted by the regulatory agencies, as well as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and other accounting standard setters; our ability to attract and retain key personnel; changes in our organization, compensation and benefit plans; and our success at managing the risks involved in the foregoing items. For further information on factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from projections, please see the Company's publicly available Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the Company's Form 10-K for the last fiscal year and, in particular, the discussion of "Risk Factors" set forth therein. The Company does not update any of its forward-looking statements except as required by law.

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SOURCE Central Pacific Bank