Why Nothing Could Stop First Republic’s Collapse

After a weekend considering their options, federal regulators took over the troubled, San Francisco–based First Republic Bank early Monday morning and sold most of its operations to JPMorgan Chase, in what amounts to the second-largest U.S. bank failure ever. (The biggest was Washington Mutual in 2008.) This was a somewhat predictable endpoint for First Republic after a weekslong slog of pulled deposits, lowered investor confidence, and gargantuan stock plunges. The closely watched regional bank, held aloft for a bit by rescue funds from larger financial institutions and the Federal Reserve, now joins several other regional banks that have taken hits from a changing, riskier macroeconomic climate.

As part of the deal, 84 First Republic branches in eight states will open as JPMorgan Chase outposts on Monday. Chase is taking on all FRB’s deposits—insured and uninsured—but the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which brokered the deal, will share in the failing bank’s losses, the Wall Street Journal reported.