JPMorgan Chase & Co., the country’s biggest bank, became even bigger Monday with the announcement that it would acquire First Republic Bank.
First Republic, with nearly $213 billion in consolidated assets, goes down as the second-largest bank failure. That’s behind the September 2008 blow-up of Washington Mutual, which had $307 billion in assets. JPMorgan acquired Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis. There were just over 4,700 banks insured by the Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation during the fourth quarter last year, down from over 5,000 FDIC-insured banks in the fourth quarter of 2020, and down from more than 6,300 in 2015, according to FDIC data.
Kelleher said he wasn’t criticizing the specifics of the JPMorgan’s takeover of First Republic, but he said it’s “long past time” to reverse the trend of bigger banks swallowing up smaller financial institutions. Those within the industry disagree. In a statement, Rob Nichols, president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, said “While the failure of any bank is regrettable, today’s decision by federal and state regulators to close First Republic Bank, and sell its deposits and assets through a competitive auction, will bolster confidence in the nation’s banking system.