Record loan originations and the continued accumulation of wealth management assets added up to a strong first quarter for First Republic Bank in San Francisco.
The $76 billion-asset bank said Thursday that its first-quarter profit increased 12.2% from the same period last year, to $176.8 million. Earnings per share climbed 8.6% year over year to $1.01, in line with the estimates of analysts polled by FactSet.
Loan originations in the quarter totaled $5.6 billion, an increase of nearly 18% over the first quarter of 2016 and the most ever in any first quarter over the bank’s 32-year history. Excluding loans held for sale, First Republic had $53.9 billion of loans on its books at March 31, an increase of nearly 19% year over year, as it reported double-digit gains in mortgage, commercial real estate and business loan balances.
Noninterest income increased 6.5% to $101.5 million, due primarily to a 13% increase in wealth management revenues. Wealth assets under management climbed nearly 23% year over year to $90.1 billion. First Republic attributed the growth to a combination of market appreciation and net new assets from existing and new clients, including those of wealth management teams hired during the quarter.
The bank’s total revenues increased 15.7% year over year to $601.1 million.
