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First Republic Bank in San Francisco has extended the contract of longtime Chairman and Chief Executive James Herbert for another two years.
December 3 -
First Republic Bank in San Francisco plans to raise up to $230 million from an offering of common stock.
November 11 -
Strong financials were an important consideration behind the $1 billion merger, but it often takes more than good numbers to compel Korean-American banks to merge. Hanmi Financial found that out the hard way after its unsolicited bid for BBCN largely fell on deaf ears.
December 10
Higher wealth management fees and improved interest income led First Republic Bank in San Francisco to double-digit profit growth in the fourth quarter.
Net income at the $59 billion-asset bank rose 23% to $124.7 million from a year earlier, as revenue climbed 19% to $494.5 million. Earnings per share rose 17% to 84 cents.
Net interest income after the provision for loan losses rose 20%, to $392.7 million. Income from loans rose 11%, to $357.4 million and income from securities investments rose 46% to $81 million. The net interest margin compressed to 3.10%.
Single-family mortgage loans held on the balance sheet rose 13% to $23.1 billion.
Fee income rose 19% to $90.2 million. First Republic reported higher fees for services related to investment advisory, brokerage, trust management and foreign exchange income. Those improvements were offset by a 64% decrease in the gain on the sale of loans, to $1.5 million.
Wealth assets under management rose 35% to $72.3 billion, a figure that includes assets held for investment management, brokerage, money market mutual funds, and trust and custodial services.
Noninterest expense rose 23% to $300.9 million. First Republic spent more on salaries and employee benefits, information systems, FDIC assessments, advertising and the amortization of intangibles. The efficiency ratio widened to 60.8%.
First Republic's shares were up 2.3% in early trading Thursday, to $62.27.
