FDIC acknowledges supervisory lapses in First Republic Bank postmortem

Loss of confidence following the March collapses of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank was the primary reason First Republic Bank failed in May, according to an internal review conducted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

The review, published Friday, was led by FDIC Chief Risk Officer Marshall Gentry and examined the causes behind the collapse of First Republic and how the FDIC could have better supervised the bank. Its scope covered 2018 until the bank’s failure on May 1.

On that day, First Republic announced its sale to JPMorgan Chase, which acquired the majority of its assets and assumed its deposits and certain other liabilities. The transaction was necessitated by stock declines at the bank following the failure of SVB that proved irreversible despite cash injections from other large U.S. banks.