First Republic Bank’s stock price plunges despite rescue package

Shares in San Francisco’s First Republic Bank plunged more than 32 percent Friday in a sign that investors weren’t consoled by a rescue effort in which some of the nation’s largest banks deposited $30 billion into in an effort to keep the bank afloat amid concerns about the wider banking industry.

First Republic Bank, meanwhile, is negotiating selling a piece of itself to other banks or private equity firms, the New York Times reported Friday.

After Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse a week ago and New York-based Signature Bank’s collapse after that, shares of many midsize banks were hit hard.

Like Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic serves largely wealthy customers in urban coastal markets, according to Fitch Ratings. That means that many of its deposits are likely above the $250,000 threshold that is insured by the federal government.

After SVB’s collapse, investors were concerned that people would pull any uninsured deposits out of midsize banks. First Republic did not comment Thursday on concerns that depositors would pull their money en masse, but the banks behind First Republic’s rescue package confirmed to the Associated Press that “unnamed banks” had seen large withdrawals of uninsured deposits.

The deposits came from Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BNY Mellon, PNC Bank, State Street, Truist, and U.S. Bank.