U.S. Treasury Seeks to Calm Fears After First Republic Bank Fails

The United States Treasury is insisting the American banking system remains “sound and resilient” after First Republic Bank was closed by regulators on Monday in the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

First Republic Bank was seized by California regulators and sold to JPMorgan Chase, which will assume responsibility for all deposits and assets. Depositors with First Republic Bank will have their accounts switched over to JPMorgan Chase and can still access their money.

This is the third central bank failure of 2023, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

A person walks past a First Republic bank branch in Manhattan on April 24, 2023, in New York City. The bank was sold to JPMorgan Chase after being seized by California regulators on May 1, 2023. Spencer Platt/GETTY

Jamie Dimon, chairman of JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement: “Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did. Our financial strength, capabilities and business model allowed us to develop a bid to execute the transaction in a way to minimize costs to the Deposit Insurance Fund.”

This is a developing story and will be updated when more information is available.