U.S. regulators on Monday seized control of San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, making it the second-largest bank to fail in U.S. history, and then quickly accepted a bid from JPMorgan Chase Bank for all of its deposits and most of its assets.
First Republic, a midsize bank which specialized in private banking for wealthier customers, is the third U.S. financial institution to collapse this year, raising fears of more turmoil in the sector and capital markets at home and abroad.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and California regulators announced early in the morning that the bank's 84 branches in eight U.S. states will reopen as JPMorgan Chase branches and depositors will have full access to all of their assets.
As of April 13, First Republic Bank had about $229.1 billion in total assets and $103.9 billion in total deposits, according to the FDIC.
JPMorgan Chase said it will take over First Republic's approximately $92 billion in deposits and a substantial majority of its assets, including about $173 billion in loans and $30 billion in securities.
But the New York-based major bank said it is not assuming First Republic's corporate debt or preferred stock.
Since March, global banking has been reeling from the closure of U.S. lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the rescue later of Switzerland's Credit Suisse by its rival UBS.
First Republic disclosed last week that it suffered a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, as the pair of bank failures had undermined American people's faith in regional lenders.
The only U.S. bank bigger than First Republic to collapse was Washington Mutual during the global financial crisis in 2008.
