What First Republic Bank's Failure Means for the Bay Area

KQED's Forum

KQED

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Facing takeover by the federal government, First Republic Bank, the Bay Area’s largest regional bank, was sold off to JP Morgan Chase this weekend. Over the course of four decades, First Republic, with its aspirational marketing and reputation for customer service, became a key brand in the Bay Area business and philanthropy communities. First Republic was among the 20th largest banks in the country in 2022 and employed about 7,000 workers, close to half which were based in the Bay Area. The bank’s failure follows Silicon Valley Bank’s dramatic demise and also comes at a time when multiple large employers in the region are announcing major layoffs. We’ll talk about what the bank’s failure means for our local economy and whether we need brick and mortar banks. Guests: Mark Calvey, senior reporter covering banking and finance, San Francisco Business Times Rachel Louise Ensign, reporter, The Wall Street Journal - Ensign covers millionaires and billionaires and the financial systems that serve them. Jeremy Owens, technology editor and San Francisco bureau chief, MarketWatch Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:59.1	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:03.0	First Republic Bank meant something to the Bay Area's elite.
1:08.3	The bank provided them with low-rate mortgages sized for the Bay Area's ridiculous housing market, and it gave them a kind of customer service that seemed from a different era.
1:12.4	First Republic was old school in another way, too. It actually worked like banks used to. It took
1:17.5	savings deposits in and loaned those dollars back out. But like many savings and loans of
1:23.3	yesteryear, when the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, they got caught in a cash squeeze
1:28.2	too much of their money lent long. Now, the bank is gone. The FDIC took it over and sold it to
1:33.8	J.P. Morgan Chase. We'll talk about what the bank meant and what the heck happened. That's all coming
1:38.3	up next after this news.
1:48.6	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
	...

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