1. Can you walk us through how HFC Bank came about, and the part it plays in Fiji’s financial sector today?
Fiji once had its own bank, the National Bank of Fiji, which failed in the late 1980s. That marked the end of any Fiji-owned bank for decades. In the years that followed, the market was dominated by four large international banks: ANZ and Westpac from Australia, Bank of Baroda from India, and BSP, a strong regional player. ANZ and Westpac in particular have operated here for over a century.
By 2013, some thirty-odd years after the old National Bank collapsed, there was a growing sense that Fiji needed a locally owned bank again, one the community could call its own and be proud of.
The government stepped in to make that happen. HFC itself had started life as Home Finance, a finance company, before becoming a fully licensed commercial bank in 2013.
Looking back, our early strategy wasn't the right one. We tried to take the international banks on directly. For a young bank, .carrying the memory of the earlier local bank's failure, going head-to-head with institutions that had a hundred-year head start was never going to work.
We had to rethink our approach. That meant reshaping our leadership team and bringing in people who knew how to compete on different terms, in a way that actually suited who we were.
The real question was how to compete in a crowded market without simply undercutting everyone on price.
Being local gave us real advantages: we understood this market, and we understood our customers, better than anyone coming in from outside.
So instead of remote decision-making by people who'd never set foot in Fiji, or banking reduced to a phone call, we went back to something more traditional. We built our approach around face-to-face, relationship banking.
That's what set us apart.
2. What makes competing in this market so difficult for HFC Bank?
It isn't a level playing field. Fiji has around 900,000 people, roughly 600,000 of whom are part of the formal banking population, plus about 200 international companies operating here.
Most of those international firms come from Australia and New Zealand and naturally bank with their own international partners. That leaves HFC competing for roughly 65% of the market, while the international banks can go after all of it.
Price competition isn't really an option for us either, we don't have their capital base, liquidity or scale. Trying to win purely on price would sink us.
So instead, we chose to be selective about who we bank and to serve them exceptionally well, rather than chasing the whole market.
It's worked. I'd say we've shifted Fiji's banking culture away from pure transactions and toward genuine relationships.
Over the past decade or so, our balance sheet has grown from around half a billion dollars to roughly FJ$2.5 billion by the close of our financial year in June 2026, with pre-tax profit rising from about FJ$4–5 million to close to FJ$63 million over the same period.
Whatever the setback, HFC has consistently looked for the opening inside it rather than dwelling on the difficulty.
3. With Fiji's economy continuing to grow and diversify, what trends are you seeing in business confidence, investment, consumer spending and demand for financial services?
Tourism drives around 40% of Fiji's economic growth, and I expect it to stay our leading industry for the long haul, indefinitely, really.
Fiji's warmth and hospitality make it an outstanding family destination, and we're able to serve a range of segments within that tourism market.
Because of that, everything we do in financial services needs to line up with the sectors driving growth. Nearly every bank here would name tourism as its biggest opportunity, and I expect that sector to keep expanding.
Fijians and the government both back continued tourism development, and our open-skies policy means airlines face relatively few barriers to flying here.
Wholesale manufacturing deserves more of our attention too. We already produce consumable goods rather than luxury items, and with Fiji's relatively affordable labour and available expertise, there's real room to grow that sector further.
Agriculture is where we're falling short. There's a lot of talk about sugar and not enough action. We need to turn that industry around, and just as importantly, help Fiji's agriculture sector grow beyond sugar.
The potential in agriculture is enormous, and we should be building on it.
Back-office and business-process centres are another area of real opportunity, already creating meaningful employment. Fijians are well educated, articulate, and English is our official language. Sometimes the best opportunities are closer to home than we think.
Personally, I think Fiji's economy is growing more slowly than it should. I believe 5% average growth is within reach, but it takes deliberate positioning and strong leadership to get there.
We sometimes get distracted by smaller issues that aren't the priority. We need to spend less energy on side debates and more on what actually moves the needle.
4. What's holding Fiji back from achieving stronger economic growth?
I think we have good strategy and strong will. The real opportunity now is sharper execution.
We sometimes settle for 3% growth as ‘good enough.’ But aim for 10% and you might land at 5%, everyone ends up aligned around a genuinely ambitious target instead.
The same logic applies at HFC. Once we moved from around FJ$5 million in pre-tax profit toward FJ$60 million-plus, we couldn't keep setting FJ$6 or FJ$8 million targets. We had to set genuinely ambitious goals, build a five-year plan, and map out the road to get there.
Everyone in an organization has to be aligned with the same goal, from our cleaners to our senior bankers, because every role plays a part in that growth, even a floor that isn't clean can affect whether customers want to come into the bank.
That's what alignment really means, everyone understanding they're part of the organization's growth story.
We set ourselves ambitious targets and delivered on them together, as one HFC Bank.
5. How is HFC Bank supporting new projects and investment across Fiji?
HFC has funded a good number of Fiji's major projects, .commercial developments, hotels and property ventures among them.
That's become an edge for us, since several international banks operating here seem to see their future revenue as increasingly digital and AI-driven.
We're still very much on the ground with local people, which is why we've held on to traditional relationship banking.
As a result, we're willing to take on more project funding that feeds directly into the local economy.
The international banks here are small pieces of much larger global institutions, with parent companies overseas for whom Fiji is a minor part of the picture.
We're the home-grown bank. Our focus starts and ends with the Fijian economy.
We work hand in hand with government and the private sector, because growing the Fijian economy is how we grow the bank.
6. Access to finance matters enormously for private-sector growth. How is HFC Bank helping SMEs, entrepreneurs and larger businesses get the financing they need to expand, invest and create jobs?
We started out financing home loans, and that's still a core product. But competing today means supporting every segment, corporate, commercial and SME alike.
By volume, our book runs roughly 60% corporate, 20% commercial and 20% SME. Corporate naturally dominates because those are the large-ticket deals.
We're strong in corporate finance, major manufacturers, property developers and other large businesses are a big part of that book.
But SMEs have their own story worth telling.
We built two things to support them.
First, the Reserve Bank of Fiji runs an SME guarantee scheme through government, and HFC is its biggest user. We work closely with the Reserve Bank to make sure it genuinely helps SMEs.
Second, we partnered with BLP, a New Zealand-linked organization tied to New Zealand's Pacific development work. Under that arrangement, if a loan made to our SME criteria goes bad, BLP covers half the loss.
That partnership completely changed how confidently we could lend to SMEs.
Over the last three years our SME book has grown by around 300%, with very few loans turning bad.
The real issue is that banks often fear perceived risk more than actual risk.
If I'd walked into the board and asked to grow SME lending by 300%, I'd probably have been sent home. But once you can show the risk is genuinely mitigated through the right structure, you can pursue that growth responsibly.
That's exactly what we've done, and we're now among the biggest SME lenders in Fiji.
7. Tourism remains central to Fiji's economy, but beyond it, where do you see the biggest opportunities for HFC Bank and its customers as the economy diversifies?
Renewable energy is one area we're watching closely, hydro, solar, and other projects developed alongside government, the energy sector and new market entrants.
ICT is another huge opportunity for Fiji.
Mining and mineral resources are underused too. Fiji is far more than beaches and tourism, .our natural resources hold real potential.
Mining is generally considered high-risk for banks unless large international players are involved, so I think it's in Fiji's interest to bring in major international companies given how capital-intensive that sector is.
And then there's agriculture.
Everyone talks about agriculture. Almost no one delivers on it.
Fiji has extraordinary natural advantages, put nearly anything in this soil and it grows. There's real opportunity in dairy, beef, sheep and plenty of other agricultural activity.
The challenge was never the potential. It's actually acting on it.
8. What role can HFC Bank play in financing tourism, property, infrastructure, energy, agriculture and other strategic sectors?
We work very closely with government, which is one of our biggest customers.
We bank several major state-owned entities and support infrastructure projects. We are involved in the energy sector and are also key bankers for major players in the aviation and sugar industries.
We support projects spanning agriculture, aviation, infrastructure, property, tourism and manufacturing, and we've backed companies behind some of Fiji's biggest new investments.
There's hardly been a major project in the last decade that we haven't touched in some way.
That's mattered a lot for our visibility, our brand, our profitability and our growth.
We'd like to fund more agricultural projects, but there simply aren't enough strong proposals coming through. So we've focused our energy on infrastructure, property, tourism, wholesaling, manufacturing and renewable energy instead.
ICT is another space we're watching, and we want to find more ways to support companies there.
At the end of the day, every bank offers broadly similar products.
What actually matters is how you deliver them.
9. Digitalization is reshaping banking fast. How is HFC Bank investing in digital banking, payments, cybersecurity and new technology?
Last year, HFC Bank undertook a major transformation of its core banking system. We completely changed the system at significant cost, with the objective of providing superior and secure digital banking services.
Security is the single most important issue in banking today.
You can compromise on convenience. You can never compromise on security.
TCS, part of the Tata Group, delivered the project, and it came in on time and on budget.
It really was a once-in-a-generation undertaking, you don't rebuild your core banking system often. We made the call to go ahead even though the agreements were signed during COVID.
We're now among the most digitally advanced banks in Fiji.
There's still a large digital agenda ahead, but having made that investment, we need to see the return on it first. So the focus now is consolidating the new system before building the next generation of products on top of it.
This financial year, we've set aside roughly FJ$5 million for digital technology, including building out the right framework, policies and processes for artificial intelligence.
We want to use AI properly, not just because everyone else is doing it.
10. Financial inclusion matters enormously in an island economy. How is HFC Bank extending banking access beyond the main urban centres?
For HFC, financial inclusion isn't a slogan, it's daily practice.
As a local bank, if you're not financially inclusive with your own people, you haven't really succeeded.
We employ only Fiji citizens. We are not only a local bank from a shareholding perspective; we are also a local bank because our entire workforce is made up of Fiji citizens.
They come from a wide range of communities and backgrounds, and they bring their own lived experience of financial inclusion to the job.
Not everyone lives in the cities. We have branches right across Fiji, and every one of those interactions counts, for us, as financial inclusion in practice.
We also have a dedicated senior role focused on community services, working alongside bodies like the iTaukei Land Trust Board and the Fiji National Provident Fund to bring banking to people who remain unbanked.
We've built specialized products for women in business too, particularly those working in the informal sector.
We don't just talk about financial inclusion. We practice it. We prove it.
11. Looking ahead five to ten years, what are HFC Bank's strategic priorities, and how do you see the bank evolving alongside a more competitive, resilient, digitally enabled Fijian economy?
People often ask if our goal is to become Fiji's biggest bank, or its most profitable. It isn't.
My strategy is to bring Fijians along in our success.
The Fiji National Provident Fund, the country's compulsory superannuation fund, owns 75% of HFC. Over the last three years we've paid roughly FJ$100 million in dividends to that fund.
Ultimately, that flows back to the Fijian people, since they're the fund's members.
We want to stay strong, healthy and sustainable.
Earning around FJ$50 million after tax puts a company among Fiji's top performers, and that's roughly the level we want to sustain, without overstretching our balance sheet or our shareholders.
We have a solid lending book, solid infrastructure, and a real focus on developing our people.
Our average employee age is around 29. We want to grow young Fijians who've chosen banking as a career into some of the best bankers in the country.
Our ambition is to build local talent, so Fiji can supply its own banking professionals instead of constantly bringing people in from overseas.
We want to be respected for who we are, and admired for what we contribute.
Running a local bank was never just about making money. It's about how much pride we can give Fijians, and how much we can give back to the country.
12. Finally, what would you like Los Angeles Times readers to know about Fiji's financial sector and business environment, and why should international investors see Fiji as a long-term partner in the Pacific?
A country's banking sector is a good indicator of its overall financial health.
Fiji is fortunate to have a strong financial sector and a capable regulator in the Reserve Bank of Fiji, alongside solid international banks backed by strong parent organizations.
Investors should feel confident that Fiji's financial sector can look after their interests.
Ours is a clean, ethical, profitable banking industry, and the Reserve Bank of Fiji keeps a firm hand on the regulatory environment.
We're commercial entities, so naturally we want to be profitable. But when local banks do well, that flows back through taxes, capital and dividends.
International investors will always be welcome in Fiji.
That said, I'd urge international companies coming here not to overlook the local banks.
We're an alternative, and importantly, we can be your partner on the ground.
We know this market, we know the stakeholders and the relevant authorities, and we can help investors navigate the local landscape.
For an international investor, a strong local banking partner offers knowledge, support and guidance that goes well beyond a standard banking product.
