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A year after Silicon Valley Bank failed, lenders are still feeling pressure on all sides

Feb 23, 2024
Rising interest rates have cranked up the interest banks are paying depositors. But banks also have a lot of cash stuck in low-interest bonds and loans they made before the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates.
A lot of the problems that last year’s bank failures revealed are still troubling small and mid-sized banks today.
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No more business as usual for the Fed

Jun 29, 2023
Technology that can cause banks to fail overnight could force the Federal Reserve to upgrade its infrastructure, while continuing basic regulation to prevent failures from occurring in the first place.
Silicon Valley Bank's problems wouldn’t have been solved by an instant Fed bailout, said Wharton professor Itamar Drechsler.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Here's why the U.S. has so many banks

May 5, 2023
Deregulation has allowed lenders to operate across state lines, making it easier for banks to merge when they’re in trouble.
"Banking in this country is way more restrictive than in any other of the industrialized countries," says Richard Grossman, an economics professor. 
David McNew/Getty Images

How can regional banks manage the industry's troubles?

May 4, 2023
Larger lenders and regulators step in for the good of the overall banking system. But confidence among depositors is key.
Regional banks continue to struggle. News that PacWest is exploring "strategic options," including a sale of the company, sent its stock sliding.
Davd McNew/Getty Images
The FDIC released a report on Monday with suggestions on how to improve federal backstops on deposits, with an aim to preventing bank customers from withdrawing their money in a panic.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Why 2008 financial crisis regulations didn't prevent the recent bank failures

May 3, 2023
Three major bank failures in two months. What happened to all those regulations?
"SVB was among the large regional banks that really should have been engaging in stress testing and wasn’t," said Columbia Law professor Kathryn Judge.
Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images

After last month's bank failures, big banks' deposits are falling again

Apr 21, 2023
The failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank had a lot of depositors worried about their own banks. While many moved their depositors to bigger institutions, bank deposits have been trending downward overall.
Up until the SVB and Signature Bank failures last month, banks had been losing deposits for about a year. Itamar Dreschler of the Wharton School said as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, banks hadn’t really been doing the same for depositors.
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Why we're paying extra attention to senior loan officers right now

Apr 11, 2023
The recent banking turmoil could further tighten credit conditions and slow down the economy.
Kent Belasco of Marquette University believes the recent bank failures are isolated, but "it does have an impact on the banking industry as a whole."
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So how are consumers feeling about the economy post-SVB?

Mar 30, 2023
It may be hard to tell from some data out Friday, which is for February. But we may still get a read on whether consumer sentiment is changing.
February consumer spending numbers will show whether January's spending numbers were an anamoly.
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SVB’s collapse sends California wineries into a state of uncertainty

Mar 28, 2023
More than 400 California wineries borrowed from Silicon Valley Bank. In the aftermath of its collapse, many are wondering what comes next.
In addition to lending to wineries, SVB helped raise money for basics like bedding and food for area farmworkers, said farmworker advocate Rosaura Segura.
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