In December 2009, First Hawaiian Bank became one of two banks in the United States to offer the new POPmoney service to its customers, a new person-to-person, secured electronic funds transfer service.

Capitalizing on an existing relationship with POPmoney creator Cash Edge, FHB rolled out its new service with a limited time $10 bonus for customers wanting to use FHB’s online service to transfer monies directly from their account to someone else’s, regardless of where that person banks in the U.S.

“It’s an easy way for people to send money to each other,“ says Jaylene Tsukayama, First Hawaiian Bank’s Vice-President & Manager of Home Banking.  “You can send monetary gifts to a relative on the mainland, or pay someone back for those tickets he or she bought for you.” The $10 bonus on the initial rollout period was a way for customers to not only send, but also to see how deposits are received.

Here’s how POPmoney works:

Online banking users register for POPmoney on the FHB website.

Using the recipient’s email address or mobile phone number, you can send a transaction request to the recipient with a message letting them know how to accept the transfer.  On the other hand, transaction requests to a bank account will be automatically deposited into the recipient’s account.

The recipient can receive the money directly through their bank if their bank offers POPmoney, or through the POPmoney.com website using their bank account information, and a verification code that will be sent to them by POPmoney.

Funds will be made available 1-3 business days after transaction approval.

It’s free to register for the POPmoney service; however, there is a $1 charge to send a POPmoney transaction.  Tsukayama also reminds POPmoney users that the service cannot validate the recipient’s email address or mobile number for them, so it is imperative that they enter the recipient’s CORRECT email address or mobile phone number.

“Mobile is inevitable,” says Tsukayama, on responding to FHB’s spearheading new technological services to its customers. Tsukayama herself worked on creating Home Banking, and is constantly on the lookout for new ways to add convenience and value for customers. “We spend a lot of time looking at [a new service], and asking is it right for our customers.” 

With home banking taken for granted today and the positive response to POPmoney, it seems as if Tsukayama, and FHB, is on the right track.