HOLOMUA Volume 26 Issue 9

Vol. XXVI Issue 9

September 19, 2025

Strengthening Bonds with Our Agency Partners

See more on page 6

The Power of Strategic Planning

As a company, it’s important to step back regularly and take a broader view so we don’t lose sight of the bigger picture, miss emerging risks, or overlook new opportunities.

To FICOH’s credit, strategic planning has long been a cornerstone of how we operate at the executive and officer level. Each year, our Annual Planning Session (APS) gives us the space to focus on FICOH’s short -, mid-, and long-term future. Holding the session off-site helps us step away from daily operations and fully engage in forward-thinking discussions. Preparation for APS begins months in advance. Under the guidance of Lance Kawano, Ken Kamoda (AVP, Strategic Planning), and Jun Wada (Manager, Strategic Planning), the Senior Leadership Team carefully vets and selects topics. Officers are then assigned to develop presentations that frame and guide our conversations at the off-site.

“ Over the years, our approach to annual planning has evolved. What was once a ‘ blue sky ’ brainstorming session, often generating 20 to 30 ideas with limited follow - through, has become a more focused and disciplined process. ”

Over the years, our approach to annual planning has evolved. What was once a “blue sky” brainstorming session, often generating 20 to 30 ideas with limited follow-through, has become a more focused and disciplined process. Today, we prioritize quality over quantity. We aim for a manageable list of actionable outcomes, grounded in feasibility and aligned with our strategic goals. Many of these initiatives require little to no IT programming, making them easier to implement and track.

I was very pleased with the energy and thoughtfulness everyone brought to the table at this year’s APS in late August. Thanks to thorough pre-work and strong participation from our officer team, we had rich, productive discussions.

For a full recap of this year’s session, please see page 5.

Lance Kawano | SVP, FiRMS President

Hawaii is facing significant headwinds due to federal funding cuts, inflation driving up the cost of basic necessities, and post-wildfire strain to our community. FICOH is helping our community in two significant ways. First, FICOH made two Low Income Housing Tax Credit Investments to fund two low income housing projects on Maui (one in Lahaina already occupied, and one in Kihei). These projects will provide much needed low income rental apartment units to the local community. In addition, FICOH’s Foundation donates $300,000 to $500,000 per year to help numerous Hawaii nonprofit organizations. Given the current situation, our Foundation is more focused on donating to non-profits that will help families survive through this tough time by providing basic needs such as food, housing, mental health, and financial stability.

Todd Yamanaka | VP, Personal Lines & Customer Service

Glad we dodged Kiko! Keep knocking on wood everyone… Thank you to all the departments that helped with the PL insurance-to-value project as all internal work has been completed for our final month of October. The timing is perfect since we’re almost ready to start evaluating a new aerial roof scoring application. If the AI-based scoring model proves dependable, this will become a new tool to better underwrite our single family dwellings. We also bid a fond Aloha to our remote underwriter, Joanna Miller who has moved to a national insurer with offices across the mainland. With this change, a new on-island underwriter will be joining our team next week. CUW Support achieved a new milestone at the beginning of the month with the introduction of selected AOAO submissions to the direct release lines of business! Thanks to the team for working closely with CUW on this strategic expansion.

Kevin Kurosu | VP, Commercial Underwriting

We’ve lost a few large property renewals this year because of the competition from the surplus market. Despite this, we are still well on track to beat the commercial plan this year. The commercial team continues to make strong progress with our insurance-to-value and small business initiatives. We are excited to welcome Kylie Marston to the CUW team! She has been quickly learning all things FICOH and CUW and has already begun jumping in to help with commercial renewals! Lastly, we currently have openings in Commercial Underwriting and Risk & Safety Management. The management team has been actively interviewing candidates to fill these roles. Thank you to the entire team for keeping things moving forward. Your efforts help us to continue delivering great service to our agency partners and insureds!

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Yvette Barradas | VP, Claims

In just a few weeks, I’ll be celebrating my 5 -year anniversary with the company, and I can honestly say it has been an incredible journey. As I approach this milestone, I’ve been meeting with our individual units to check in on progress and hear firsthand about what’s working well and where we might need to focus more attention. While there are always areas for growth and improvement, I am truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of this great team and to continue working together toward our shared goals. Thank you all for making this experience so rewarding!

New Auto Insurance Minimum Limits Take Effect January 1, 2026

Heads up, FICOH drivers: Important changes to state auto insurance laws are on the horizon.

In 2024, the Hawaii State Legislature passed Senate Bill 2342, which increases the minimum liability insurance requirements for both Commercial and Personal Auto policies. These new limits will go into effect on January 1, 2026, marking the first increase in nearly 25 years.

What’s Changing? Effective 1/1/26, the new minimum liability coverage limits will be: • $40,000 Bodily Injury – Per Person (up from $20,000) • $80,000 Bodily Injury – Per Accident (up from $40,000) • $20,000 Property Damage – Per Accident (up from $10,000)

What This Means for FICOH To prepare for the change, FICOH submitted filings to the Hawaii Insurance Division, which were approved on June 19. We’re now working to implement new or additional limits in Guidewire.

Impact to Our Policyholders The good news: The number of affected FICOH policies is relatively low. • Personal Auto: Policies at minimum limits make up about 5% of the book. • FSP-Auto: Polices at minimum limits make up less than 1% of the book. • Commercial Auto: Policies at minimum limits make up less than 3% of the book.

We’ll continue to support affected policyholders as we move toward the January 1 effective date.

Looking Ahead: Highlights from FICOH’s 2025 Annual Planning Session Each year, FICOH’s officer team gathers to align on FICOH’s strategies and future direction. The 2025 annual planning session was held over two days in late August at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The session began with a review of major initiatives. Leaders shared updates and received constructive feedback, sparking new ideas and practical suggestions. These insights will be used to refine strategies moving forward. The team also revisited the recent system outage, emphasizing the need to improve communication, reduce reliance on external vendors, and update emergency response plans to better prepare for future disruptions. Below are the broad areas of strategic focus discussed during the session: • Small Business Program enhancements and expansion • Collecting and utilizing customer contact information • Strengthening our communication with agents • Addressing Commercial Lines capacity challenges • Implementing a structured approach to workflow improvements • Managing FICOH’s hurricane exposure • Increasing adoption of FICOH telematics and sensor technologies • Building up our data management and analytics capabilities • Acting on system outage lessons learned You’ll hear more about Annual Planning Session outcomes in your upcoming division meetings. Feel free to reach out to your AVP or senior leader with any questions.

Moving Forward

The 2025 planning session provided a valuable opportunity for FICOH’s officers to align on strategic goals and reinforce

the company’s commitment to continuous

improvement. The ideas and actions discussed will guide efforts to better serve customers, support agents, and build a more resilient company.

FICOH Launches Second Agency Rewards Program

Qualification criteria for FICOH S.T.A.R.: • Not a FICOH Rewards Diamond agent • 3-year losses <= 0% (versus the average loss ratio) • Top 10 based on weighted New Business count >= 100 policies

In addition to our FICOH Rewards Program, which has been running strong for more than seven years, we’re excited to introduce a second agency recogni tion program called FICOH S.T.A.R. (Select Top Agent Rewards), designed to recognize and incentivize Personal Lines and small business. This new program aims to foster strong partnerships with emerging agents as they grow within the insurance industry. Both the FICOH Rewards and FICOH S.T.A.R. programs will run concurrently, sharing a qualification period from January through December each year. The S.T.A.R. program is already underway, using data collected throughout this year to determine eligibility for a West Coast trip in the summer of 2026.

Personal Lines policies; and



 Commercial Lines policies <= $25,000

• Unweighted New Business premium >= $100,000*

Final Datacenter Move Set for September 20-21

Over the September 20-21 weekend, our IT team will complete the final phase of a multi-year datacenter migration project by relocating the last remaining equipment at DR Fortress (near Honolulu Airport) to our Ward Office. This move marks the end of our transition away from local hosting. Over the past few years, critical systems have already been migrated to mainland datacenters in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, managed by TMNAS. With this final step, we will fully vacate DR Fortress, resulting in monthly savings of more than $12,000 in hosting and network costs. Our new setup will mirror that of PHLY, with a smaller local equipment footprint and critical systems housed in resilient mainland datacenters. This arrangement enhances our disaster recovery capabilities, ensuring that customer portals remain accessible even during major Hawaii disruptions, while also providing additional internet connection redundancy. What to expect during the Sept. 20-21 move: • Ward and West Oahu offices will experience onsite service interruptions over the weekend. • Guidewire systems will remain online for remote users. • Printing and file share access will be temporarily unavailable. This migration supports TMNAS’s commitment to stability, resiliency, and cost-effectiveness in the IT solutions they provide to our group companies. Please contact the IT Service Desk at 855.30.TMNAS with any questions you may have.

Strengthening Bonds with Our Agency Partners

On August 21st, FICOH welcomed valued agency partners to an appreciation mixer at Upstairs at Pier 38. The evening was filled with great conversation, delicious food, and meaningful moments of reconnection and forming new bonds with our agency customers. These annual mixers are part of FICOH’s ongoing commitment to strengthening business relationships with agency partners across the state.

Nominate an Associate Who Makes a Difference

Make a Difference Award nominations are now open for associates who exemplify FICOH’s core values through their actions, attitude, and mindset. These individuals rise to every challenge, go above and beyond, and make a meaningful difference in the workplace. Know someone who fits this description? Click here to nominate a deserving colleague today.

Awards at a Glance: • $1,000 cash award

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Simple nomination criteria

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Multiple winners possible

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Sept-Dec 2025: Nomination period

• Jan-Feb 2026: Officers review nominations and determine winner(s) • March 6, 2026 (National Employee Appreciation Day): FICOH announces winner(s)

Learn more about the Make a Difference Award Program.

Tokio Marine Group Launches TMGX to Support Decarbonization Efforts

Tokio Talks on Sept. 24 at 3pm (HT)

The global shift toward a low-carbon economy presents both challenges and opportunities. According to McKinsey, the insurance market could see $10 billion in new green premiums by 2030. In response, Tokio Marine Group has launched Tokio Marine GX (TMGX), a new business initiative aimed at supporting companies across industries as they navigate their decarbonization journeys. Launched in September, TMGX currently underwrites a wide range of green and transitional risks, including: • Onshore and offshore wind • Solar and hydropower • Battery energy storage systems • Carbon capture and credits • Hydrogen • Aquaculture • Green vessels • Project cargo • General liability • Surety for green projects

Join the next Tokio Talks session to learn how TMGX is helping businesses develop and operate green energy initiatives. Register here for the Tokio Talks rebroadcast happening Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 3pm (HT).

Visit https://tmgx.com/ to learn more.

HiMarley Texting Platform Speeds Up Claims Communications After the Maui wildfires, FICOH Claims was able to quickly implement HiMarley — a secure platform that allows us to communicate with customers via text — thanks to support from our sister companies. Many Maui residents expressed a strong preference for texting, and HiMarley helped us meet that need during a critical time. Since then, we’ve continued using HiMarley, and the results show that texting is a communication method many insureds and customers prefer. The median time to first contact when using HiMarley is under 10 minutes, and the customer opt-in rate is an impressive 89%. Currently, HiMarley is available to our Auto and Property adjusters, as these claim types are best suited for texting. Training sessions held in 2024 helped maintain momentum and adoption beyond the wildfire response. Among our top Claims-Auto users are Tiana Berrios, Kendall Fujita and Jody Aki , who had these thoughts to share about HiMarley’s benefits:

What do you like about HiMarley?

How does it help you?

What do customers like about HiMarley?

Jody: I can send and receive information while still on a call, which helps me cover more ground without interruptions. It’s also easier to get timely responses from customers who work in the field. Kendall: It helps with checking in and communicating with customers, plus reduces the amount of time I’m on the phone with them.

Tiana: It’s easy to use and lets us communicate with customers more quickly. Jody: I like that the message thread is easy to follow. You don't need to search for deleted emails or emails that didn’t have the claim number or that branched off from the original thread.

Tiana: They get notifications right away and prefer texting over email.

Kendall: Since most people are on their phones anyway, they can easily reach out to adjusters in seconds and get a response pretty quickly.

How do you balance HiMarley with other communication channels?

Any tips for new HiMarley users?

Tiana: Keep it casual when asking customers if they’d like to receive texts. Most are happy to opt in. Jody: During the initial call, set the stage for future communication. I say, “I just sent you a HiMarley — can you opt in while I’m holding? Great! Now we can text.”

Tiana: I like to use HiMarley for customer communication and email for office use, body shops, and commercial claims. Jody: Emails are ideal for office workers and professionals. Texts are great for sending/ receiving quick information. Many times, tutus probably just want to talk on the phone.

The UH Interns Have Arrived

Jacob Shibuya Finance & Management

Ethan Shek Finance

Erica Bala Finance

Be on the lookout for a few new faces around the office because our newest group of UH interns started on Monday August 25 th . Join us in giving a warm welcome to Shidler College students Jacob Shibuya (Finance and Management), Ethan Shek (Finance), and Erica Bala (Finance). This fall, our interns are participating in an on- site rotation through FICOH’s departments every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. As they gain hands- on experience in the insurance industry, they’ll also collaborate on a business project to be presented to FICOH leadership in December. Behind every successful round of UH interns is a team that makes it all possible. Mahalo to UH liaison and coordinator Terri Stephens (HR), Project Mentors Danny Taniguchi (FiRMS) and John Agnello (Claims), and all the department leads for their support and commitment.

New Hire

Read the Latest Tokio Marine Journal

In this issue, learn more about the Tokio Marine Global Claims Conference, where our very own Yvette Barradas represented FICOH in Tokyo.

Click Here

Kylie Marston Underwriter I, Commercial Underwriting

Transitions

Seini Tafuna Senior Associate to Billing Recon Specialist Billing

On the Line for a Cause: 2025 Kapi ʻ olani Radiothon

On the evening of September 11 th , a team of First CAT volunteers participated in the 19 th annual Kapi ʻ olani Radiothon for Kids, hosted by KSSK Radio at Kapi ʻ olani Medical Center for Women & Children. While heartfelt stories of healing from patient families were shared live over the airwaves, our volunteers staffed the phone lines, collecting donations to help Hawaii’s keiki who need critical care. In addition to raising funds during our shift, the FICOH Foundation contributed $2,000, and matched donations made by associates during the hour. (If you donated to the radiothon outside our volunteer shift, please complete the FICOH Matching Gift Form to have your donation matched.) Overall, the radiothon raised $910,000 to support programs and services at Kapi ʻ olani Medical Center.

1025 University Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96826 Betty ’ s Burgers

(808) 762-0099 Mon-Sun: 11am-9pm

FICOH associates are encouraged to patronize our restaurant insureds.

With a nod to old- school American diners, Betty’s Burgers honors timeless burgers and traditions. With two locations, one on University Avenue and a newly opened spot in Waikiki, it’s spreading the word that their old fashioned burgers are here to stay. Co- owners Douglas “Moe” Morrison and Jed Roa have been longtime business partners. Formerly the food and beverage manager for the Seattle Seahawks, Morrison drew inspiration from the wildly popular burgers once served at the then-named Century Link Field. With a nostalgic nod to his high school days, Morrison named the restaurant after his study hall teacher, joking, “because she never made me study.” Embracing the nostalgic spirit of a 1950s diner, Betty’s keeps its menu simple. Each smash burger at Betty’s starts with a quarter -pound patty, then iceberg lettuce, and buns from Liliha Bakery. From there, it’s all about what you’re craving: cheese, bacon, spicy, BBQ, deluxe, or even teriyaki. For lighter appetites, they also offer fresh salads and kid meals. No trip to Betty’s Burgers is complete without a thick, old fashioned shake. With a choice of classic flavors (like strawberry or chocolate) and tropical twists (like passion fruit and mango), plus a rotating flavor of the month, there’s a perfect pairing for every burger. With affordable prices, loyal customers say Betty’s Burgers holds its own in quality and price against nearby staples like Teddy’s Bigger Burgers and Burger King. Even local celebrities like JBoog and High Watah have stopped by for a bite. So next time you're near the UH campus, swing by Betty’s Burger, or check out their new Waikiki spot at the Royal Hawaiian Dining Plaza. Either way, go hungry.

Support Our Insureds

Don’t know what to eat for dinner tonight? Patronize our insureds and support local! Click here for a partial list of our restaurant insureds.