First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) stock fell 4.61% (As on Jan 18, 11:26:34 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company posted better than expected results for the fourth quarter of FY 21. During the fourth quarter, the utilization rate on capital call lines of credit increased to 42%. In terms of funding, it was an exceptional year. Total deposits were up $41 billion or 36% compared to a year ago. Checking deposits represented 72% of total deposits at year-end, the highest level ever. And business deposits represented 60% of total deposits at year-end. The average rate paid on all deposits for the quarter was just five basis points, leading to an overall funding cost of just 12 basis points. In 2021, the company had opened two new preferred banking offices, both in New York, and the bank plans to open another six offices across the footprint over the next 18 months. The fourth quarter was particularly strong with AUM increasing by $28 billion with nearly 60% from net client inflow. In addition, wealth management households grew nearly 20% this past year. Wealth management fee revenue for 2021 was $760 million, up 44% from the prior year. Brokerage, insurance, trust and foreign exchange fees, together, grew 57% during the year. These accounted for 27% of total wealth management fees, up 23% five years ago.
Moreover, for the fourth quarter, net charge-offs were only $64,000. The provision for credit losses for the quarter was $24 million driven almost entirely by our strong loan growth. The net interest margin was 2.68% for the fourth quarter and 2.67% for the full year 2021. The net interest income was up a very strong 26% year over year. This is primarily due to the robust growth in earning assets. Our efficiency ratio was 63.3% for the fourth quarter.
FRC in the fourth quarter of FY 21 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $2.02, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $1.91, according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company had reported the adjusted revenue of $1.37 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 21, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue by 1.67%.
For the full year 2022, the loan growth is expected to be in the mid-teens. The net interest margin is expected to be in the range of 2.65% to 2.75%.