❗Help close the gap: We still need to raise $40,000 by the end of March. Donate now

This regional banker cheered by sector's resilience, disturbed by potential regulation

Mar 12, 2024
Laurie Stewart of Sound Community Bank is confident a year after three banks failed, but credit risk and cyber threats are on her radar.
The failure of Silicon Valley Bank didn't foreshadow widespread disruptions in the industry, as many feared.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

A year after the banking crisis, many small businesses are less worried about their deposits

Feb 12, 2024
Business owners have taken steps to protect their cash since three regional banks failed last year.
Because the FDIC only insures deposits up to $250,000, some small business owners have  spread their cash across different banks after last year's crisis.
Justin Sullivan/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

What do bank branches offer in an online-banking world?

May 3, 2023
JPMorgan Chase's purchase of First Republic includes its brick-and-mortar locations. In-person interaction is still a key part of the business.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

How will banking change amid wreckage of SVB, First Republic?

May 2, 2023
New regulation and industry consolidation will be key. Loans may be scarcer for new businesses and in low-income and rural communities.
Executives and regulators would like the fallout of the recent bank failures to be limited, but the impact is being felt.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

What's next for JPMorgan after acquiring First Republic?

May 2, 2023
JPMorgan acquired First Republic's assets and customers, but also a lot of outstanding debt.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is pictured. The bank's acquisition of First Republic means it assumes a large number of new assets, customers and debt.
Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images

For JPMorgan, loss sharing sweetened its deal to buy First Republic Bank

May 1, 2023
For one, help from the FDIC, which will absorb up to 80% of the losses coming from First Republic's residential and commercial loans.
The FDIC seized control of First Republic Bank over the weekend and auctioned it off.  JPMorgan won that auction, and it’s paying a cool $10.6 billion for it.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

By acquiring First Republic, JPMorgan becomes "too big to be too-big-to-fail"

The reverberations of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse have taken down First Republic. What's next for the financial industry?
JPMorgan Chase's acquisition of First Republic further consolidates the industry in the country's largest bank, says the University of Michigan's Erik Gordon.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

When short sellers bet against banks

Apr 28, 2023
Short sellers have made more than a billion dollars betting that First Republic would tank. Is that good for financial stability?
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Fewer cranes on the horizon? Banking tumult could slow nonresidential construction

Mar 28, 2023
Smaller and regional banks are major lenders not only for office construction, but also building projects like hospitals, educational institutions and ports.
Cranes on a construction site in southeast Baltimore work to build office space. Spending for non-residential projects is up nearly 16% in the past year, according to the Census Bureau, and that is due in part to rising building costs.
Stephanie Hughes/Marketplace