Central Pacific Bank Strengthens Executive Team

HONOLULU, Nov. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Central Pacific Financial Corp. (NYSE: CPF) announced today that the company and its primary subsidiary, Central Pacific Bank (CPB), appointed Catherine Ngo as its Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).  Ngo has over 17 years of executive experience in the banking and private equity industries as General Counsel of Silicon Valley Bank, Chief Operating Officer of Silicon Valley Bank's investment subsidiary, Alliant Partners, and most recently as General Partner of venture capital firm Startup Capital Ventures. The CAO is a newly created position at the company and oversees the legal and compliance, human resources, marketing, service quality, and loan operations areas.

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"As we continue to make progress in our efforts to turn the company around, Catherine's proven success record in banking, operations and investments adds tremendous value to our organization going forward," said John C. Dean, Executive Chairman of CPF and CPB.    

Ngo, age 49, is a graduate of the University of Virginia and University of Virginia School of Law.  After seven years in private law practice, she joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1993, and as Executive Vice President and General Counsel, was part of the executive team credited for the bank's turnaround led by current CPF/CPB Executive Chairman, John Dean.  In 2002, Ngo served as Chief Operating Officer of Silicon Valley's investment banking subsidiary, Alliant Partners, and in 2005, joined Startup Capital Ventures in Palo Alto, CA as a founding General Partner.  Ngo currently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"I've worked closely with John for the past 17 years and appreciate this opportunity to contribute to CPB's recovery," said Ngo.  "The company has such a rich heritage in serving the people of Hawaii and a strong franchise value in its loyal employees and customers, which offer so much to the community."

CPF recently announced that it has entered into definitive agreements with The Carlyle Group and with Anchorage Capital Group, L.L.C., pursuant to which each investor agreed to invest $97.5 million, or a total of $195 million, in the Company's common stock.  The investments are part of an expected aggregate $325 million capital raise by CPF from institutional and other investors, and are subject to the Company raising the remaining $130 million, regulatory approvals, and other conditions.  The Company has filed a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2010, detailing the definitive agreements.

Additional information on the company can be accessed on the company's website at:  www.centralpacificbank.com.

About Central Pacific Financial Corp.

Central Pacific Financial Corp. is a Hawaii-based bank holding company with $4.2 billion in assets.  Central Pacific Bank, its primary subsidiary, operates 35 branches, 120 ATMs, and a residential mortgage subsidiary in the State of Hawaii.  For additional information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.centralpacificbank.com.  

Forward-Looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements concerning projections of revenues, income/loss, earnings/loss per share, capital expenditures, dividends, capital structure, or other financial items, concerning plans and objectives of management for future operations, 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" 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 limited to: the impact of local, national, and international economies and events, including natural disasters, 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; the impact of regulatory actions on the Company including the Consent Order by the FDIC and the Hawaii Division of Financial Institutions; the impact of legislation affecting the banking industry including the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the Dodd-Frank Act Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act; the impact of competitive products, services, pricing, and other competitive forces; movements in interest rates; loan delinquency rates and changes in asset quality generally; the price of the Company's stock; volatility in the financial markets and uncertainties concerning the availability of debt or equity financing; and the impact of regulatory supervision.  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 2009 Form 10-K and 2010 Form 10-Qs.  The Company does not update any of its forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Central Pacific Financial Corp.