Bank / Credit Union

Maui to sue Bank of America over broken promise to native Hawaiians

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July 31, 2020

Maui County plans to sue Bank of America for allegedly failing to make good on a 1994 promise to make $150 million in home loans to native Hawaiians.

The promise was reportedly ignored until 1998, when NationsBank was getting ready to merge with Bank of America, according to a report in The Charlotte Observer. Cathy Bessant, community development executive at Nations Bank, who is now chief operations and technology officer of Bank of America, met with Hawaiian elders agreeing the bank would honor the promise made in 1994, despite the merger.

Bessant's assurances calmed concerns the pledge would fall by the wayside, which in did, for two decades.

In 2012, the head of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which oversees the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, said Bank of America did not actually meet its commitment because the commission did not approve it, among other reasons. A DHHL spokesman confirmed the 2012 letter is the department's current position.

In 2018 and 2019, according to the report, the Hawaiian Attorney General investigated whether it could pursue charges against the bank. In July 2020, Maui County hired a special counsel to sue Bank of America. The bank asked a federal court to preempt Maui's lawsuit and issue a ruling the county has no claims it can make against the bank.

"While we respect and understand the issues faced by the native Hawaiian community, the county has authorized a meritless lawsuit relating to a pledge made in 1994. The bank has fulfilled its pledge," Bill Halldin, spokesperson for Bank of America spokesman, told the Observer.