In February, First Republic Bank’s well-heeled customers were yanking money from their accounts. The bank tried to stem the tide by offering higher rates on certificates of deposit. Even that was a tough sell.

二月份，第一共和银行的富裕客户正在从他们的账户中提取资金。该银行试图通过提供更高的存款利率来遏制资金流失。但即使这样也难以说服客户。
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Jim Herbert, the bank’s 78-year-old founder, usually a reassuring presence, slammed his hand on the table during an all-hands meeting. We’ve got to get more deposits, he said, according to people familiar with the matter.

据知情人士透露，这家银行的78岁创始人吉姆·赫伯特通常是一副气定神闲的样子，但在这一次全员会议上，他重重地拍打着桌子，表示“我们必须获取更多的存款”。

That was before the March banking panic that toppled two of First Republic’s peers, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Its troubles only worsened after that.

接着在3月份，银行业恐慌爆发，该银行的两个同行——硅谷银行和Signature Bank都倒闭了。此后，该银行的困境只变得更加严重。

Early Monday morning, regulators seized First Republic and struck a deal to sell the bulk of its operations to JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest bank in the country.

周一早间，监管机构接管了第一共和银行，并达成将该行大部分业务出售给美国最大银行摩根大通公司(JPMorgan Chase & Co., JPM)的交易。

The collapse of First Republic marks the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history, behind the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual Inc. It also spells the end of what was considered one of the most successful strategies in banking: luring wealthy depositors and giving them five-star service.

第一共和银行的崩塌是美国历史上第二大银行倒闭案。一度被认为是银行业最成功的策略之一也由此终结，该策略就是吸引富有储户并给予他们五星级的服务。

Few could have predicted the speed and magnitude of the March bank run. First Republic lost more than half of its deposits, around $100 billion, in just a few days. Yet as Mr. Herbert’s urgent message reveals, the bank’s business was already fraying.

几乎没有人预测到3月银行挤兑的速度和规模。第一共和银行短短几天内流失了约1,000亿美元存款，相当于其存款总额的一半以上。然而，正如Herbert的紧急信息所揭示的，该银行的业务此前已经出现了裂纹。

First Republic’s undoing was triggered by the Federal Reserve’s rapid series of interest-rate increases, which led depositors to seek better returns elsewhere. That meant it had to pay more to keep them, just when rising rates were battering the value of its mortgage portfolio. It was a problem obvious in hindsight, but First Republic, among others, thought they would survive the Fed’s inflation fighting just fine.

第一共和银行的困境是美联储一系列快速加息引发的，这些加息促使储户到其他地方寻求更好的回报。这意味着该行需要支付更多的钱留住储户，同时利率上升导致住房抵押贷款组合价值受到冲击。回头来看，这个问题显而易见，但第一共和银行等银行当时都认为，它们将在美联储对抗通胀的政策下安然无恙。

“Clients stay with us,” Mr. Herbert told investors last November. “They grow, they compound, their deposits compound, their loans compound, and they bring their friends. It’s not a complicated model, and it works in all environments.”

“客户会留在我们这，”Herbert去年11月对投资者说。“客户会增长，会复合式增长，他们的存款有复利，他们的贷款有复利，他们会介绍朋友来。这个模式并不复杂，在所有的环境下都是有效的。”

A spokesman for Mr. Herbert declined to comment.

Herbert的一位发言人不予置评。

This wasn’t supposed to happen. First Republic, based in San Francisco, was a big bank with a small-town feel, the ultimate relationship bank. Wealthy customers, the thinking went, wanted high-touch service more than a few extra dollars in interest on their deposits.

该行的崩塌本不该发生。总部位于旧金山的第一共和银行是一家具有小城镇银行风格的大银行，是终极版关系银行。其理念是，高净值客户更想要的是高接触服务，而不是从他们的存款中多赚一点利息。

First Republic gathered these clients, paid them minimal interest and used their deposits to fund mortgages. More deposits meant more loans for condo projects in Manhattan or second homes in Hawaii. First Republic got back far more from these borrowers—3.03% in interest charged on average in 2021—than it paid out to depositors, 0.12% on average.

第一共和银行吸引了这些客户，向他们支付非常低的利息，并用他们的存款发放房贷。存款更多，就意味着可以为购买曼哈顿公寓项目或在夏威夷买二套房提供更多贷款。第一共和银行通过发放这些贷款获得的回报远高于向储户支付的利息，2021年平均收取3.03%的房贷利息，向储户支付的利息平均为0.12%。

These loans often had bespoke features, and they almost never went bad.

这些贷款通常有定制的特点，而且基本从未变成坏账。
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In a world of ultralow interest rates, this old-fashioned model was lucrative. First Republic’s annual profit quadrupled in the decade through 2021. The bank became one of the 20 largest in the U.S. and, by a couple of standard measures, traded at a valuation well above the likes of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. Those two banks, America’s biggest, tried to copy it by opening branches in rich suburbs and upscale urban areas.

在超低利率环境下，这种老式模式大赚特赚。在截至2021年的十年间，第一共和银行的年利润翻了两番。该银行成为美国20家最大银行之一，而且按照一些标准指标衡量，第一共和银行的股票估值远远高于摩根大通(JPMorgan Chase & Co., JPM)和美国银行(Bank of America Corp., BAC)等公司的股票。后两家银行是美国最大的银行，它们在富裕的郊区和高档城区开设分行，试图效仿第一共和银行。

“Deposits, deposits, deposits” and “checking, checking, checking” were mantras former co-CEO Hafize Gaye Erkan was known to repeat at the end of weekly all-hands meetings, according to former employees. The bank published weekly reports that showed deposit growth by region. A representative for Ms. Erkan declined to comment.

据前雇员称，“存款、存款、存款”和“支票、支票、支票”是前第一共和银行联合首席执行官Hafize Gaye Erkan在每周全体员工会议结束时都会反复说的几个词。该银行每周公布报告，这些报告显示了各地区的存款增长情况。Erkan的一名代表不予置评。

The bulk of bankers’ pay was tied to the amount of deposits or loans they brought in, said Anthony Sherman, who worked in a midtown Manhattan branch until 2018 and now runs a startup. “They just cared about if you were producing,” he said.

Anthony Sherman曾在曼哈顿中城第一共和银行一家分行工作，直到2018年，现在他经营着一家初创企业。他说，银行家的大部分薪酬与他们揽来的存款或贷款数额挂钩。“他们只在乎你是否在带来业务，”他说。

Daniel DiCicco, a 40-year-old lawyer living in Portland, Ore., became a First Republic customer last year when the lender offered him a $100,000 credit line at an interest rate of 2.95%. The catch: His line-of-credit rate would rise if his deposit balance fell below $20,000.

现年40岁、居住在俄勒冈州波特兰的律师Daniel DiCicco去年成为第一共和银行的客户，当时该银行向他提供了10万美元的信贷额度，利率为2.95%。这其中的陷阱在于：如果他的存款余额低于2万美元，信用额度的利率就会上升。

He wasn’t earning much interest but other perks made up for it. When Mr. DiCicco and his wife were planning a trip to Japan last fall, First Republic offered to courier him thousands of dollars of yen at no cost.

他的存款并没有赚取多少利息，但其他的好处弥补了这一点。去年秋季，DiCicco和他的妻子打算去日本旅行，第一共和银行提出向他专差速递价值数千美元的日圆，不收服务费。

“I don’t have to lift a finger,” said Mr. DiCicco. “I can email my banker and say I need something and it literally shows up at my doorstep.”

DiCicco说：“我自己不需要动一根手指头。我可以给我的银行家发电子邮件，说我需要什么，东西就会出现在我家门口。”

First Republic made a particular effort to harness rapidly growing tech wealth in Silicon Valley. Peter Herz, who runs a venture-capital firm that invests in food startups, became a First Republic customer in 2002 when the bank gave him a mortgage to buy a Menlo Park, Calif., home.

第一共和银行采取了有针对性的行动，以利用硅谷迅速增长的科技财富。Peter Herz经营着一家投资食品初创企业的风投公司，他在2002年成为了第一共和银行的客户，当时他购买了加州门洛帕克一套房产，该行为他提供了房贷。

He opened a checking account and paid his mortgage out of it because that earned him a discount on his rate. The service he got from First Republic prompted him to bring over most of his personal and professional accounts. Bankers at his local branch are familiar with his unusual signature and have fixed problems it has caused over the years, Mr. Herz said.

Herz开了一个支票账户，并通过该账户还房贷，因为如此操作可为其带来利率折扣。从第一共和银行获得的服务促使Herz把大部分个人和公司账户都带了过来。Herz说，他所在当地分支机构的银行家们熟悉他不同寻常的签名，并且解决了多年来该签名所造成的一些问题。

The bank struck deals with companies to target their employees, and staffers of Alphabet’s Google who set up an account earned a signup bonus of more than $2,000, said people familiar with the matter. It set up a branch inside Facebook’s headquarters and routinely offered wealthy tech employees long-term mortgages at 2.5% or less.

知情人士称，第一共和银行与各公司达成了面向其雇员的协议，例如Alphabet Inc. (GOOG)旗下的谷歌(Google)员工开设一个账户，即能获得超过2,000美元的注册奖金。该公司在Facebook总部内设立了一个分支机构，还向富有的科技行业人员例行提供2.5%或更低的长期房贷。

One customer was Mark Zuckerberg. In 2012, First Republic gave the Facebook founder and CEO a $5.95 million mortgage with a starting rate of 1.05%, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)就是客户之一。据《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)此前报道，2012年第一共和银行向这位Facebook创始人兼首席执行官提供了一笔595万美元的房贷，起始利率为1.05%。

A First Republic branch appeared on Silicon Valley’s famed Sand Hill Road in 2011; it opened its first branch in Palm Beach, Fla., in 2013; in 2018 the bank expanded to Jackson, Wyo., the wealthy getaway city where Mr. Herbert bought a house. Miami Dolphins owner and real estate developer Stephen Ross appeared in the bank’s ads.

2011年，第一共和银行的一家分支机构出现在了硅谷著名的沙山路(Sand Hill Road)；2013年，该行开设了位于佛罗里达州棕榈滩的首家分支机构；2018年，该行的业务足迹扩展到了怀俄明州富裕的度假城市杰克逊，Herbert在此地购买了一套房产。职业橄榄球队迈阿密海豚(Miami Dolphins)的老板兼房地产开发商Stephen Ross也出现在第一共和银行的广告中。
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Customers jockeyed for a spot in the bank’s annual report, a perk that came with a glossy photo shoot.

客户们争相在银行年报中占有一席之地，登上年报就能展示自己光鲜亮丽的形象。
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“It’s almost like a yearbook,” said Celina Yosri, who worked as an operations project manager at the bank headquarters in San Francisco between 2016 and 2018. “The annual report is full of clients, not employees, and I think that says everything.”

“这几乎就像一本年鉴，”Celina Yosri说。“年报里写的全是客户，而不是员工，我认为这说明了一切。”Yosri在2016年至2018年期间在该银行旧金山总部担任运营项目经理。

In July 2021, the bank named Ms. Erkan, 43, who previously worked at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., as co-CEO. In December, the bank announced Mr. Herbert would take medical leave due to heart issues. Ms. Erkan left the bank less than a month later.

2021年7月，该行任命43岁的Erkan担任联席首席执行官，她曾在高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group Inc.)工作。去年12月，该行宣布Herbert将因心脏问题休病假。不到一个月后，Erkan离开了这家银行。
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First Republic interviewed top executives from other banks for the open CEO job, people familiar with the matter said. It wound up elevating longtime insider Michael Roffler, and making Mr. Herbert, who returned from leave in the spring, executive chairman.

知情人士称，第一共和银行为填补空缺的首席执行官职位面试了其他银行的高层管理人员。该行最终提拔了长期以来一直在该行工作的内部人士Michael Roffler，并让春季休假回来的Herbert担任执行董事长。

The obsession with customer service came straight from Mr. Herbert, who founded First Republic in 1985, and who came from a small-town banking family.

对客户服务痴迷的直接原因是Herbert。他出身于一个小镇银行家庭，于1985年创立了第一共和银行。

“I’m willing to bet everybody at the bank has met and had a chat with Jim at some point,” said John Rosanelli, who ran First Republic’s business serving hedge-fund customers until May 2022. “Jim always put forward ‘be humble, be responsive, take care of the customers.’”

“我敢打赌，这家银行里的每个人都在某个时候见过Jim，和他聊过，”John Rosanelli说。“Jim总是强调‘要谦虚，要有回应，要照顾好顾客’。”Rosanelli在2022年5月之前一直负责第一共和银行为对冲基金客户提供服务的业务。

Mr. Herbert’s return coincided with the early days of the Fed’s inflation-taming campaign. First Republic doubled down. The bank thrived during the Fed’s series of relatively modest rate increases between 2015 and 2018, and there was no reason to think this time would be different, it told investors in public presentations.

Herbert的回归适逢美联储抗通胀行动初期。第一共和银行加大了自身的行动力度。该行在公开演示资料中告诉投资者，美联储2015年至2018年进行一系列相对温和的加息期间，第一共和银行蓬勃发展，没有理由认为这次会有所不同。

Behind the scenes, pressure was growing. With Treasurys and money-market accounts suddenly offering 4%, the best customer service in the world would have a hard time convincing wealthy clients to stick with a checking account yielding next-to nothing.

但在幕后，压力越来越大。随着美国国债以及货币市场账户突然提供4%的收益，单凭卓越的客户服务将很难说服富有客户坚守收益几乎为零的支票账户。

People familiar with the matter say bankers who handled balky clients would in some cases raise deposit rates to try to keep the business.

知情人士称，负责处理棘手客户的银行家在某些情况下会提高存款利率，试着留住生意。

Customers taking out home equity and other lines of credit were encouraged to park those funds in First Republic deposit accounts, according to former First Republic employees. Until then, clients would often transfer the money to different banks.

据第一共和银行的前雇员称，提取房屋净值信贷额度和其他信贷额度的客户被鼓励将这些资金存入第一共和银行存款账户。此前，客户往往会把相关资金转到不同的银行。

In late 2022, the bank slowed down hiring and by the end of the year was replacing very few employees who left, according to investor presentations and former employees. Susie Cranston, the bank’s chief operating officer, was among the executives leading cost-cutting efforts. Ms. Cranston, through a bank spokesperson, declined to comment.

据针对投资者的演示材料和前雇员的说法，2022年末，该行放慢了招聘速度，到年底时员工离职造成的空缺只有极少数得到填补。该行首席运营官Susie Cranston曾是领导成本削减工作的高管之一。Cranston通过该行的一位发言人表示不予置评。

At the end of 2022, the bank had $176.4 billion in deposits, 68% of which exceeded the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s $250,000 insurance limit, which meant customers were not guaranteed to get that cash back if the bank failed. Deposits accounted for 92% of the bank’s funding.

在2022年底，该银行拥有1,764亿美元的存款，其中68%的存款超出了美国联邦存款保险公司(Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., U.S., 简称FDIC)为每个账户提供的25万美元存款保险上限。这意味着如果该银行倒闭，无法保证客户拿回这些现金。存款占到了该银行资金的92%。

In an investor presentation in mid-January, the bank touted its small number of deposit accounts—about 20% of what other banks of its size had. The setup allowed it to devote more time to customers and “provide extraordinary service per relationship.”

在今年1月中旬的投资者演示材料中，该行宣传称其存款账户数量较少，仅相当于其他同规模银行的20%左右。这让该银行能够把更多时间投入到客户身上，并为每一名客户提供卓越的服务。

First Republic increased deposits 13% in 2022. But it paid dearly for them. In the fourth quarter, First Republic paid $428 million in interest on deposits, up from $20 million a year earlier.

2022年，第一共和银行的存款规模增加了13%，但代价不菲。2022年第四季度，第一共和银行支付了4.28亿美元的存款利息，较上年同期的2,000万美元激增。

Rising deposit costs were an especially big problem for First Republic because much of its income comes from low-yielding, fixed-rate mortgages that won’t mature for years. It didn’t expand into other products such as credit cards and auto loans that can help balance out a bank’s loan book.

存款成本上升对第一共和银行来说是个尤其麻烦的问题，因为该行大部分收入来自低收益、固定利率的房贷，而这些贷款多年后才会到期。该行并未向其他产品领域拓展业务，如信用卡和汽车贷款，此类产品可以帮助平衡一家银行的贷款簿。

In 2022, more than half of First Republic’s loans were residential mortgages with an average interest rate of 2.89%. Rising rates shaved some $22 billion off their market value. The paper losses weren’t much of a problem—as long as the bank didn’t have to sell the loans. If, however, it needed to meet withdrawals, the realized loss would have eaten away at the capital the bank needed to operate.

2022年，第一共和银行的贷款中有一半以上是房贷，平均利率为2.89%。利率上升导致这些贷款的市值蒸发了约220亿美元。只要该行不必出售这些贷款，账面损失并不是什么大问题。然而，如果该行需要满足提款需求，已实现的损失就会侵蚀运营所需的资本。

Analysts were raising concerns about the company’s interest-rate mismatch. The stock ended 2022 down about 40%. It plunged after Silicon Valley Bank failed on March 10.

分析师们对该公司的利率错配表示了担忧。第一共和银行股价2022年累计下跌约40%。3月10日硅谷银行倒闭后，第一共和银行股价重挫。

Customers, no longer content to earn nothing on their deposits, had begun to move their money—slowly, at first, then all at once. Their relationship with the bank, after all, was purely a financial one.

不甘心存款赚不到钱的客户开始提取存款，起初是以缓慢的速度取款，然后一下子就都提走了。毕竟这些客户与第一共和银行之间纯粹是金融关系。

First Republic tried to stem the panic. On March 10, the lender released a statement saying that it had a diversified group of depositors and “over $60 billion of available, unused borrowing capacity at the Federal Home Loan Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank.” Two days later, executives emailed customers to reassure them about the bank’s finances.

第一共和银行当时试图缓解储户的恐慌。该行3月10日发布声明称，拥有多元化的储户群体，而且“在联邦住房贷款银行(Federal Home Loan Bank)和联邦储备银行(Federal Reserve Bank)有超过600亿美元的可用但未用的借款能力”。两天后，高管们给客户发电子邮件，让他们对该行的财务状况放心。

Later that day, banking regulators announced they had closed another bank, New York-based Signature. The Fed set up an emergency-lending program to help banks meet withdrawals. A few hours later, First Republic announced it had shored up its finances with additional funding.

当天晚些时候，银行业监管机构宣布，已经关闭总部位于纽约的Signature。美联储设立了一项紧急贷款计划，以帮助银行满足提款需求。几小时后，第一共和银行宣布已用额外资金增强了自身财务状况。

The stock continued to slide. On March 16, a group of large banks agreed to deposit $30 billion in First Republic, a move designed to turn First Republic into a firewall. It wasn’t enough. The deposit run forced the bank to rely heavily on money borrowed from government and government-backed facilities at rates that largely exceed what it was earning on its assets. Borrowing hit a staggering $138 billion on March 15.

该股继续下跌。3月16日，一些大银行同意联合向第一共和银行注入300亿美元存款，此举旨在将第一共和银行变成一堵防火墙。这么做远远不够。存款挤兑迫使该行严重依赖从政府和政府支持机构借来的资金，这些资金的利率大大超过了该行的资产收益率。借款总额在3月15日达到惊人的1,380亿美元。

“An upside-down funding base is unsustainable,” Chris McGratty, head of U.S. bank research at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, wrote in a research note.

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods的美国银行研究主管Chris McGratty在一份研究报告中写道：“资金基础本末倒置是不可持续的。”

As part of the deal reached Monday morning, JPMorgan said it will assume all of First Republic’s $92 billion in deposits—insured and uninsured. It is also buying most of the bank’s assets, including about $173 billion in loans and $30 billion in securities. The FDIC will share losses with JPMorgan on First Republic’s loans. First Republic’s 84 branches will reopen as part of JPMorgan Monday during normal business hours, and customers will have full access to their deposits, the FDIC said.

作为周一上午达成协议的一部分，摩根大通表示，将接收第一共和银行所有920亿美元的存款，包括受保和非受保存款，以及第一共和银行的大部分资产，包括约1,730亿美元的贷款和300亿美元的证券。FDIC将与摩根大通分担第一共和银行贷款的损失。FDIC说，第一共和银行的84家分支机构将作为摩根大通的一部分于周一在正常营业时间内重新开业，客户将可以完全取用自己的存款。

The Oregon Jewish Community Foundation banked at First Republic for years. Last week, the nonprofit started moving all of its deposit accounts to Bank of America, said David Forman, president and CEO. Even though its balances were under the deposit-insurance limit, the organization didn’t want to deal with the potential hassle of having money stuck at a failed bank, he said.

俄勒冈州犹太社区基金会(The Oregon Jewish Community Foundation)已在第一共和银行办理银行业务多年。该非营利组织的总裁兼首席执行官David Forman说，上周，该组织开始将所有存款账户转移到美国银行。他说，尽管账户余额低于存款保险限额，但该组织不想在未来去处理资金滞留在一家破产银行的潜在麻烦。

“A month and a half ago, First Republic had a halo effect on everything you did,” Mr. Forman said. “Now it’s the opposite.”

“一个半月前，第一共和银行对于你所做的一切都会产生光环效应，”Forman说。“现在情况恰恰相反。”