Q. What are some of the challenges you face running a credit union today?

A. The biggest challenge is federal regulations, especially after 9/11 with the Bank Secrecy Act. The federal government expects us to do the police work for them, where if there's any unusual cash item, we need to make sure that we know the source and what it's being used for. It's really getting tough, especially a complex institution like ours that has ATMs, and we have share-branching. Seven of us big credit unions got together and serve each other's members. You got a lot of different avenues for doing transactions, and somehow we have to consolidate all of these transactions and make sense out of them.

Q. What kind of growth has your organization been experiencing?

A. We decided to branch only about five years ago, so it's been like catching up. Right now we have four, but we have plans to go to Hawai'i Kai next. After that, we plan to go to Kailua. These retail spaces, we have contracts on them already. We're going to go to Kaimuki. We have a location in Kalihi and we even have 3 acres in Kapolei that we eventually are going to put a branch on.

Q. Where is the funding coming from?

A. We've been waiting for days like this where we knew that one day we had to bite the bullet and spend money for branches. So we've got a lot in reserve, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. However, in places like Kapolei where we have 3 acres, no way can we develop on our own, so we'll probably take on partners to help us develop. With any real estate, I like to develop it for the highest and best use, and that means money too, so I sure would like to get some partners involved. We're thinking about retail on the bottom two floors and the rest office spaces. We're two blocks away from Kapolei Hale.

Q. How much will this expansion cost?

A. For a branch, existing retail space, we probably spend almost a million dollars each because we do put first-class design in them ... I think it'll pay in the long run. The 3-acre project would cost a lot more.

Q. How long have you been with the credit union?

A. All together, 35 years in various positions.

Q. When you first started, it was known as the Honolulu City & County Employees Federal Credit Union?

A. Yes. I was a loan officer. I loved the job because I got to meet and help a lot of people. Back then there weren't as many regulations. We could lend on character, which is kind of subjective, but my judgment was pretty good. Then I moved up to assistant manager and vice president. I was vice president for almost 20 years. ... I've been president since 1993.

Q. Why so long with one company?

A. My nature is I love helping people, and at the credit union we get to help people and get paid for it. It's a great job.

Q. Why was the name changed to Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union?

A. The reason for that is we found out that people want convenience, so we had to open branches. When you start opening brick-and-mortar branches, it's costly, so we needed more members. If you open a branch in Waikele like we did and call ourselves "Honolulu City & County Employees Federal Credit Union," a lot of people won't go in because they think it's exclusively for city employees. That's the reason for the change.

Q. Has the name change affected the way you do business?

A. No. Actually, we do want to make sure we do take care of our core membership, which is the city employees. We were charted in 1936 and started business in 1937. We just opened our fourth branch. The flagship branch is at the Fort Street and King Street corner.

Q. How many members do you have?

A. We have a little over 25,000, mainly on O'ahu. We got a few on all the other islands. We don't have branches on the other islands, but we have ATMs on all the major islands because our ATMs are in every Macy's store in the state.

Q. Do you plan to open branches on the Neighbor Islands?

A. I don't see it in the near future, but I would never say no.

Q. What's your membership goal?

A. In five years we hope to double it. We have such dedicated, friendly, knowledgeable employees. Unlike the other institutions, our people are not specialized. They do almost everything. So they can come in and talk to a person and get help practically from A to Z. A lot of times you get bounced around. We don't like to do that, so we cross-train most of our employees to do everything and anything.

Q. You were born in Japan. How did you wind up here and then go to Kaimuki High School?

A. My dad was born in Pupukea, and when he was 3 years old my grandmother dropped him and he hit the back of his head that controls his eyesight. Back in the early 1900s, medicine was more advanced in Japan than in Hawai'i, so my grandfather took my dad to Japan, where he was educated and eventually got married and had three boys. Back in 1956, he brought the whole family over and I was 9 at the time. When I came over I didn't know a word of English, so it was quite tough. I remember when I moved over I was in the fourth grade, but half of the time I was with the second-graders learning the basics.

Q. You list your father as your mentor. Why's that?

A. He was blind since 3 years old, but he provided well for us. He did acupuncture and he helped a lot of people with their health. You would think that being you were physically challenged almost all of your life that you would feel like "why me?" I've never once heard my father say that. He's always been positive, confident and really a role model for the three of us. He retired about three years ago, but he did it for 60-some-odd years and helped thousands of people.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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