Finance & economics | Another one bites the dust

First Republic fails, and is snapped up by JPMorgan Chase

Regulators arrange a deal for the California-based lender

Signage is displayed outside of a First Republic Bank branch in Santa Monica, California on March 20, 2023. - Wall Street stocks overcame early weakness to end higherMarch 20, 2023 on hopes that turmoil in the banking sector may be easing, after Switzerland's largest bank UBS agreed to a takeover of troubled rival Credit Suisse. But shares of First Republic Bank plummeted by 47.3 percent, even as a coalition of US lenders said last week they would deposit $30 billion into it. This came as S&P cut its credit rating for First Republic to B+ from BB+ on March 19, 2023. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)
Image: AFP

WHEN BRANCHES of First Republic Bank, the latest regional lender to buckle in the face of surging American interest rates, opened on May 1st, they did so as branches of JPMorgan Chase. The banking giant snapped up the troubled California-based lender in an auction arranged by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (fdic), a regulator, over the weekend. JPMorgan will assume all of First Republic’s $100bn-odd deposits; losses on the bank’s residential and commercial loans will be shared with the fdic.

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