Thriving Communities

At ASB, community is at the core of everything we do. Through quarterly engagement surveys, our teammates consistently share that they are proud to work for a company that does such a phenomenal job bringing real impact to our community. From supporting our nonprofit partners to sponsoring events and activities year-round that help advance local families, our team members give big and give from the heart to make Hawaii a better place.

Menu

Financial Inclusion and Capacity Building

ASB Seeds of Service Team

We understand that financially healthy residents lead to a financially healthy state and economy. At ASB, no matter how much money someone earns, what their living situation or how big their bank account balance is, we believe that everyone should have access to free financial resources and support to succeed.

Read more →

Some of the many ways we support a thriving community are by offering community development loans, affordable housing investments, small business development programs, charitable contributions, community service projects, financial education initiatives and pro bono services.

Back

Empowering the Community with Financial Literacy 

We’re committed to helping our customers and the community improve their relationship with money and achieve their dreams – no matter how big or small they are – and make the best financial decisions.

Financial Literacy Courses on asbhawaii.com

ASB offers a free, online Financial Checkup, which provides customers and non customers a real-time assessment of their financial wellness, as well as recommendations to help them learn about improving their situation. Our Financial Checkup tool provides insight for every stage of life, such as buying a home, having a baby, paying for a child’s education and saving for retirement. Users can also access our free online financial calculators, budgeting tools and helpful articles with financial tips and information from the convenience of their own home.

 

Thousands of residents have also improved their financial futures by taking advantage of our ASB Financial Education program, a free, comprehensive resource center available on asbhawaii.com. Users can select from different playlists featuring a series of five-minute trainings designed to provide practical tips and information on topics such as debt management, budgeting, credit scores and more. After completing each course, customers can learn about next steps and make an appointment to meet with one of our knowledgeable bankers for more personalized support.

ASB teammate presenting to students

In addition to the online self-service tools and content, ASB regularly hosts free in person and virtual seminars on a variety of topics such as first-time homebuyer tips, saving and investing, planning for retirement, cybersecurity tips, green energy loans and fraud prevention, among others.

 

Our bankers also frequently engage with local schools and nonprofit organizations, such as Junior Achievement and Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i, to teach about personal financial responsibility and entrepreneurship. ASB partners with 46 public and private schools across our state through our Bank for Education program. The schools within our Bank for Education Ohana have special access to financial literacy education, grant awards and volunteer projects. Half of the schools have signed up for free training on topics such as Understanding Money, Entrepreneurship and Smart Money Skills for Teens.

Class held by ASB teammate
ASB Mortgage Loan Officer for Quick Tip Tuesday video

Through our affiliations with nonprofits and other community partners, we support a variety of programs for some of the most vulnerable groups in our state. For example, we assist low- and moderate-income individuals and families with completing their income tax returns free of charge through our participation in the Internal Revenue Service’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program and partnership with Goodwill Hawaii. We also provided cybersecurity tips for kupuna, translation services to ensure non-English speaking residents have access to important financial tools and resources and created a “Quick Tip Tuesday” monthly video series which features our bankers providing useful financial tips on our social media platforms.

Helping Low- and Moderate-Income Families

ASB strongly supports the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which is a federal law that encourages financial institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which we operate, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations. The law also prohibits “redlining,” the practice of denying or increasing the cost of banking to residents of racially defined neighborhoods.

Mother and daughter hugging

We offer solutions that benefit low- and moderate-income families. For instance, we participate in the Fannie Mae HomeReady and Freddie Mac Home Possible programs, which help make homeownership a possibility for credit qualified low-and moderate income families.

 

ASB is also a participating lender in the Mortgage Credit Certificate Program, which reduces the amount of federal taxes that low- and moderate-income borrowers pay and frees up their income for mortgage qualification purposes. Additionally, we participate in programs that provide down payment or reduced closing costs to qualified first-time homebuyers (ASB’s First Time Homebuyers program, Hometown Heroes program for frontline workers, Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines’ Home$tart and Native American Homeownership Initiative programs).

Read more →

In 2019, ASB received a “Satisfactory” CRA rating from the OCC. The OCC recognized ASB’s “excellent responsiveness to the credit needs” of Hawaii residents and commented that our bank’s service delivery systems were “readily” or “reasonably accessible” to people of “different income levels.”

 

ASB also offers a variety of additional banking products to help families get ahead. For example, our Kalo Essentials checking account, which does not have a monthly service fee or minimum balance requirement, is a great option for customers looking to build their savings. We even offer a free Moneyhune Savings account with no minimum monthly balance for children who want to start building their financial future early.

Back
Read more →

Through our nonprofit partners, we also offer Individual Development Accounts (IDA). With IDAs, nonprofit organizations match funds that are deposited by the account  holder. This wealth-building tool helps low- and moderate-income individuals achieve their goals by providing funds for life events such as a college education, starting a small business or saving toward homeownership.

 

ASB is proud to be the official banking partner of Partners in Development Foundation’s Keiki Assets Account, or KAA, an initiative to improve financial literacy and help Hawaii families build wealth by establishing education savings accounts for their keiki. ASB worked closely with Partners in Development on the design and launch of the program and continues to provide technical support and financial literacy resources to the program’s coaches and participants.

Back

Providing a Hand Up for Communities in Need

We Are Oceania photo

Access to financial resources and support are key to strengthening the overall health of our residents, community and economy. ASB is committed to providing financial education, tools and opportunities to assist lowincome, under-served and disadvantaged populations to improve their financial situation.

 

In 2021, ASB offered its former Liliha Branch location rent-free to We Are Oceania (WAO), a nonprofit organization that supports the Micronesian and Pacific Island communities, including many families living near the ASB Campus. ASB learned about WAO’s great work through our long-time support of Partners in Development Foundation. By offering the space rent-free, WAO was able to expand their community services and provide activities focused on career and college readiness, cultural exhibitions, mentorship programs, study areas and resources for homeless youth and families.

Josie Howards' Headshot
“Just like a home means everything to a family, this center will be the same. It’s a place where they can come and seek help. Somebody is there to help and somebody is there who understands them.”
Josie Howard, Chief Executive Officer of WAO
ASB has also supported WAO in other ways over the past several years

Raised

$0k

 for the organization from our ...

Click to learn more →

In 2019, we raised $100,000 for the organization from our Hawaii Curling Club fundraiser.

Click to close →

Donated

$0k

to WAO in support of the ...

Click to learn more →

In 2020, we donated $3,000 to WAO in support of the Kalihi community when we opened our Kalihi Branch.

Click to close →

Donated

$0k

to WAO in support of the ...

Click to learn more →

We donated $30,000 to assist WAO with education and awareness communications to the Micronesian community in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the community.

Click to close →

To focus our giving efforts and ensure we are bringing real impact to our community in a meaningful way, ASB supports the following Kahiau partners through monetary and in-kind donations throughout the year: Child and Family Service, Kapiolani Health Foundation, Kupu, Partners in Development Foundation and United Way chapters in Hawaii (Aloha United Way, Friendly Isle United Fund, Hawaiʻi Island United Way, Kauaʻi United Way and Maui United Way).

Charitable Giving

At ASB, bringing real impact to our community means more than just giving financially. Year-round our teammates generously give their time, “sweat equity,” best ideas and leadership to more than 180 nonprofit organizations across our state.

0

Seeds of Service Hours

Benefited 182 organizations

$0

Total ASB Charitable Giving

Supported 123 organizations

$0

Kahiau Giving

Teammate contributions

0%

Kahiau Giving

Teammate participation

2022 Kahiau Giving Project

Our teammates raised more than $212,000 during our annual Kahiau Giving Campaign, ASB’s annual workplace donation campaign. Combined with ASB’s matching contribution of $150,000, ASB donated more than $360,000 to ASB’s Kahiau Partners.

 

A remarkable 93 percent of ASB teammates participated in our annual Kahiau Giving Campaign resulting in the largest Kahiau program donation since 2011. Through the hard work of our teammates, ASB has donated nearly 112,000 volunteer hours and millions of dollars to Hawaii’s nonprofits and community organizations, including more than $2.9 million raised through our Kahiau Giving Campaign since the programs inception in 2011.

Ready to Learn

For the eighth year in a row, ASB partnered with Helping Hands Hawaiʻi to prepare Hawaii’s keiki for school through our Ready to Learn program. The month-long program encourages teammates, customers and community members to make a donation at any of our branches to ensure Hawaii’s low-income and homeless students receive the basic educational tools to start the school year off right and succeed in the classroom.

 

In 2022, through the Ready to Learn program, we distributed 1,300 backpacks filled with school supplies to Hawaii’s students. 

Restoring Hope to a Challenged Community

American Savings Bank has been committed to the ongoing revitalization of the Aala/Chinatown/Kalihi-Palama area since we purchased the land for our new ASB Campus in 2014. Since then, we’ve organized regular Aala Park and neighborhood cleanups and have made big investments to improve the area, which for decades, has been synonymous with illegal activity.

 

Since moving over 650 teammates to our Campus in 2019, we have stepped up our efforts to revitalize our neighborhood and continue to partner with a number of public and private entities, including the Trust for Public Land, Weed & Seed program, which was relaunched by the Honolulu Prosecutor’s Office, Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Chinatown 808 and various art and community organizations to restore the area to the safe and thriving community gathering place it once was.

“Aala Park has a special place in our hearts and we are thrilled to collaborate with such visionary community partners to restore it to a vibrant gathering place for families and neighbors.”

Beth Whitehead, EVP, Chief Administrative Officer

As part of our partnership with the Trust for Public Land’s Parks for People pilot program, the community was surveyed and asked to share their hopes and dreams for the area to inform future improvement plans. The goal is to create a shared vision for the future of Aala Park and honor its rich history and diversity through a collaborative, grassroots and community-based design process.

In 2022, ASB invested more than $240,000 to
provide positive, family-friendly activities in Aala Park, including:
Skateboarding clinic at Aala Park

Weekly youth skateboard clinics and dog obedience trainings

ASB teammates at Immigration resource fair

An immigration resource fair

Dragon Boat Festival

A Dragon Boat Festival – this year on land!

Youth Sports Clinic

Youth sports clinics for soccer, flag football and speed and agility, in partnership with i9 and Hawaii Speed & Quickness

Jamie Reyes' for skateboard giveaway

A skateboard giveaway and clinic for 50 youth where each participant received a brand new skateboard, ASB skateboard bag, helmet, sneakers, lessons from notable  skateboarders and a professional skateboard demonstration by Jaime Reyes, a Hawaii native and one of only three women to be on the cover of Thrasher Magazine.

ASB partnered with Super Skate Posse for a skateboard giveaway and clinic at Aala Park. Each participant received a brand new skateboard, ASB skateboard bag, helmet and sneakers.
Aerial view of Aala Skate Park