JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, agreed to assume $173 billion in assets, $30 billion in securities and all of First Republic's $92 billion in deposits. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sweetened the deal by agreeing to share losses on certain residential and commercial loans, giving JPMorgan some protection if the assets go bad.
The fall of the $229 billion First Republic makes it the biggest casualty yet of the banking system turmoil that began in March, larger than either Silicon Valley Bank or Signature Bank. Seattle's Washington Mutual, which went under with $307 billion in assets in September 2008, is still the largest bank failure in US history.
Even though JPMorgan agreed to protect all of First Republic's depositors, the seizure does add more of a burden to the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund, which is used to absorb losses when banks go down.
The FDIC estimates the First Republic failure will cost it $13 billion, on top of more than $22 billion from the two other failures in March. Taxpayer money does not support the fund; instead the FDIC recoups its costs with an assessment paid for by banks.
As part of the First Republic agreement JPMorgan will make a cash payment of $10.6 billion to the FDIC, and the FDIC will also provide the bank with $50 billion in loans. JPMorgan said it will recognize a one-time, post-tax gain of roughly $2.6 billion. It anticipates $2 billion in post-tax restructuring costs over the next 18 months.
