First Republic Bank seized by US regulators and sold to JP Morgan Chase

First Republic Bank has been seized by California regulators and sold to JPMorgan Chase in what marks the third failure of a US bank in just seven weeks.

The California Department of Financial Protection announced in a news release Monday morning that it has taken possession of the bank and named the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as the bank’s receiver.

The FDIC has accepted an offer from JPMorgan Chase Bank to take control of all of the bank’s assets, including all uninsured deposits.

The drastic move to take over First Republic Bank comes after bailout talks failed and concerns persisted over the development of a full-scale banking crisis.

First Republic Bank has been under close watch since March 10, when Silicon Valley Bank first collapsed, marking the second-biggest bank failure in US history.

Two days later, Signature Bank was next to fail and was seized by New York regulators.

After that, the banking industry and the Biden administration tried to reassure Americans that the nation’s banking system was safe and urged people not to withdraw their deposits, which could lead to more bank runs.

But First Republic Bank was seen as the next bank expected to fail.