Writer: Joshua Andino
2 min read May 2023— Palm Beach County’s First Republic Bank (FRB) branches are open for business after being acquired by JPMorgan in what many hope is a sign of the end of recent industrywide turmoil.
First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) collapsed in the wake of its most recent earnings call that saw a 42% decline in deposits and the bank’s share price plummet. FRB’s collapse marks the second-largest bank failure this year. Regulators seized the bank’s remaining assets and deposits on Monday and quickly sold them to JPMorgan Chase Bank, with JPMorgan Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon telling analysts on a later call that, “this part of the banking crisis is over.”
“There may be another smaller one, but this pretty much resolves them all,” Dimon said.
FRB had a remaining $229.1 billion in total assets and $103.9 billion in total deposits as of April 13, notes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). FRB’s collapse is second only to Washington Mutual in 2008, which JP Morgan also acquired. JP Morgan agreed to pay $10.6 billion for FRB.
The bank had three branches across South Florida, all within Palm Beach County, and while plans for those branches have yet to be announced, JPMorgan has assumed control of the three sites in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach, all of which opened yesterday under normal operating conditions.
Managing First Republic Bank will be JPMorgan Chase’s Consumer and Community Banking (CCB) Co-CEOs, Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak, according to an official press release. “First Republic has built a strong reputation for serving clients with integrity and exceptional service,” they said in the statement. “We look forward to welcoming First Republic employees. As always, we are committed to treating employees with respect, care and transparency.”
As the South Florida Business Journal notes, FRB had $2.7 billion in South Florida deposits, the majority of which were from high-net worth clients and mortgages for mansions owned by the likes of baseball star Alex Rodriguez, San Francisco-based fintech CEO Brad Garlinghouse and luxury homebuilder Todd Glaser.
The acquisition further solidifies JPMorgan Chase as the largest bank in the country by a good margin. At the end of 2022, JPMorgan held $3.66 trillion in total assets, well above its nearest competitor, Charlotte-based Bank of America, with $3.05 trillion.
“Our government invited us and others to step up, and we did,” said Dimon. “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.”
