Michael J. Roffler
Co-Chief Executive Officer (Acting) and President at First Republic Bank
Thank you, Mike. Let me begin by sending our best wishes to Jim Herbert, the Bank's Founder and Co-CEO, who recently began a temporary medical leave of absence. Jim, I'm sure you're listening and we look forward to your healthy return.
2021 was another very strong year for First Republic. This was the Bank's 36th consecutive year of profitability since it was founded in 1985. First Republic continues to deliver safe, consistent organic growth by doing what we do best, providing exceptional client service.
Now let me cover a few key results for the year. Total loans outstanding were up 20%. Total deposits have grown 36%. I would note that checking deposits made up 72% of total deposits at year-end and wealth management assets increased 44%. This strong growth in turn led to strong financial performance. Year-over-year, our total revenues have grown 29% to more than $5 billion. Net interest income has grown 26%. Earnings per share have grown a very strong 32%. And tangible book value per share has increased more than 17% during the year. Importantly, our credit quality continues to be excellent. Consistently strong credit has been a hallmark of First Republic since our founding. Net charge-offs for the fourth quarter were only $64,000. Net charge-offs for the entire year were only $2.1 million, less than 1 basis point of average loans. Non-performing assets end of the year at only 8 basis points of total assets. Our capital remains very strong. At year-end, our Tier 1 leverage ratio was 8.76%. This includes the benefits from five successful capital raises in 2021. Olga will touch on this momentarily.
This year's results demonstrate the power of our client service culture. Our culture is our competitive advantage. Each one of our 6,300 colleagues is dedicated to serving our clients and one another. The result at a client satisfaction level as measured by our net promoter score that is over 2 times the banking industry average. Preliminary results from our 2021 Net Promoter Score survey indicate that our service level actually increased during the year. Importantly, a greater percentage of clients now consider us their lead bank.
Highly differentiated service drives our organic growth through repeat business and client referrals. Each year more than 80% of the Bank's growth comes from these two sources. Our colleagues' focus and dedication are the foundation of our success. As a leadership team, we are collectively focused on empowering our people to be their best.
Let me take a few moments to cover some of the other highlights of the year. Leveraging technology to drive client satisfaction and scale our client facing colleagues remains a top priority. To this end, in 2021, we continue to invest in technology and our regulatory infrastructure to further strengthen First Republic and enhance our client service model. For example, we have made significant progress on our core system conversion, an important project for First Republic. This initiative remains on schedule. In addition, we recorded tax credits for research and development for the first time, reflecting our continued investment in client service innovation. Olga will speak more about this in a moment.
Taking care of our colleagues and communities also remains a top focus of First Republic. In 2021, we expanded our employee base by 15% to support the continued growth of the franchise. We also raised our minimum wage to $30 per hour. We supported the volunteer efforts of our colleagues, who contributed more than 22,000 hours to nonprofit organizations. We also launched the First Republic Foundation, which expands and complements our existing philanthropic initiatives. And we enhanced our commitment to the environment by becoming carbon-neutral for the first time and purchasing 100% renewable energy to cover our electricity needs. The simplicity of our business model has enabled us to remain focused on delivering exceptional client service. In 2021, the outcome once again was strong financial performance. Thank you to all of our colleagues for their great teamwork and collaboration in serving our clients.
Now I will turn the call over to Mike Selfridge.