Inside the First Republic failure

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May 1, 2023

First Republic Bank headquarters in San Francisco Photographer: Jason Henry/Bloomberg

Read the story On Monday, First Republic Bank became the second-biggest US bank failure ever. It brought March's banking crisis back into sharp focus after a relative lull in the weeks since Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank went under.  Regulators seized First Republic after a tumultuous few weeks where depositors pulled about half their money from the bank. First Republic's stock tumbled from $170 in March of 2022 to $5 by late April, and the bank struggled to find a way out — even after an extraordinary $30 billion infusion from US banking giants.  SVB was brought down by a bank run and the dwindling value of its investments, and Signature Bank succumbed to contagion fears and shrinking deposits. But First Republic's downfall had its roots in a unique strategy to loan wealthy individuals extraordinary sums of money. It blew up in spectacular fashion. Read The Big Take.

Listen to the podcast Europe's ambitious climate targets are putting pressure on airplane makers to come up with sustainable alternatives to dirty jet fuel. Bloomberg's Siddharth Philip and William Wilkes weigh how planes could fly greener — from hydrogen to battery-powered jets. Subscribe and listen on iHeart, Apple and Spotify.

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