As part of the transformation to full-service banking, First Republic Bank integrated its lending and deposit-gathering sides. Herbert was not sure how it should work, but he knew he wanted his top deposit-gathering banker leading the effort. “I asked Margaret Mak if she would start Preferred Banking,” Herbert recalled. Mak asked him what that was. “I don’t know,” he said. “That’s why I want you to start it, and let’s figure it out.”
Mak moved to an office on the second floor of First Republic Bank’s headquarters at 388 Market Street in San Francisco, where the Preferred Banking group took shape. Several colleagues helped assemble the new team structure, including Crocker Bank alum turned First Republic Relationship Manager Carmen Castro-Franceschi. The mortgage teams already consisted of a Relationship Manager and a Loan Processor. To work with existing mortgage clients to transfer their deposit relationships to First Republic, and to attract new clients, the Bank added a new position, the Preferred Banker. Modeled after Mak, who set the tone for the role and designed many of the services, Preferred Bankers joined the existing mortgage teams and added an additional level of deposit focus and expertise in serving the client’s full banking needs. 1