Free Republic

US regulators have seized Republic First Bancorp and agreed to sell it to Fulton Bank, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday, underscoring the challenges facing regional banks a year after the collapse of three peers. The Philadelphia-based bank, which had abandoned funding talks with a group of investors, was seized by the Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities. The FDIC, appointed as a receiver, said Fulton Bank, a unit of Fulton Financial, will assume substantially all deposits and purchase all the assets of Republic Bank to “protect depositors.” Republic Bank had about $6 billion in total assets and $4...

Silicon Valley Bank’s UK branch is under new management. While reportedly a separate entity, walled off from the calamities of its US-based operations, it’s not a barrier impervious to the fallout that comes from a total collapse. In the US, SVB closed its doors and is under the direction of the FDIC. This news comes after a run occurred, sparked by the bank’s announcement that they needed a massive capital raise to cover the mountains of losses incurred by the tech industry’s drumming on Wall Street; SVB was leveraged heavily in this sector. It was where startups went and got...

In the wake of two bank failures, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury announced a bank bailout program that could be dubbed “QE Extra Lite.”Last week, Silicon Valley Bank was shuttered by federal authorities after the bank suffered significant losses selling bonds in order to raise capital. When that news hit, depositors rushed to pull funds from the bank, making it functionally insolvent. Then over the weekend, federal authorities shut down Signature Bank.On Sunday, the FDIC created “bridge banks” to handle both insured and uninsured customer deposits. Banking regulators assured depositors that they would have full access to all...

Silicon Valley Bank wasn’t an ordinary bank. It became the go-to bank for venture-funded technology startups in the most fertile business environment for innovation over the past 50 years, Silicon Valley. As business boomed over the past few years, Silicon Valley Bank made a big bet; it would invest in a virtual risk-free investment: government debt. The bank would earn just under 1.80% by committing capital for a relatively short duration (< 3-4 years).But management failed to account for a few critical yet tectonic shifts. The first major underestimation was that the Federal Reserve would hike rates as rapidly and...

Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus asked Americans to “wake up” to the reality that the U.S. economy is in “tough times,” following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).“I can’t wait for [President Joe] Biden to get on the speech again and talk about how great the economy is and how it’s moving forward and getting stronger by the day. And this is an indication that whatever he says is not true,” Marcus told Fox News on March 11.Marcus added,“And maybe the American people will finally wake up and understand that we’re living in very tough times, that, in fact,...

Yesterday, along with many, many others, I mentioned a major financial concern: The problems of two small banks on the West Coast are rippling across markets and causing new investor concerns about some of the country’s largest financial institutions.Why? Three words: rising interest rates [italics added].The Federal Reserve’s aggressive campaign to bring down inflation helped set the stage for major problems at two California lending institutions — SVB Financial (SIVB) and Silvergate Capital (SI) — as an outflow of deposits forced both to sell assets at a loss. Those assets were bonds.BOOM! BOOM! POW! Friday it happened: Silicon Valley Bank...

It hasn’t been a good day for the banking industry. As our Senior Editor Joe Cunningham reported, Silicon Valley Bank was taken over by bank regulators. The 16th largest bank in the nation, and once a darling of tech industry, its downfall could be directly connected to the woes, layoffs, and setbacks in that very industry.Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a financial institution that focused primarily on investing in tech start-ups, has been taken over and shut down by federal regulators in one of biggest financial failures in history, and the biggest since the Global Financial Crisis over a decade ago.The...

Regulators closed down one of Silicon Valley’s most important banks on Friday, marking the largest bank failure since the Great Recession and the second-biggest in U.S. history. Earlier in the day, Silicon Valley Bank suspended trading of its plummeting shares and depositors rushed to withdraw their money. As one of the main institutions where start-ups deposited their venture-backed investments, SVB’s failure sent shock waves through the industry. The turmoil comes as the tech companies retrench and shed workers, while rising interest rates spark signs of broader financial distress.

What if you go to use your debit card but find you have a $100 spending limit — even if you have more money in your account? Right now, the idea is a bargaining chip being used by some of the nation's biggest banks, including JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup. The change would have a big impact on shoppers. The average family spends $122 on groceries every week, so a simple trip to the supermarket might in the future require a stop at the ATM. It all goes back to new rules that Congress is considering aimed...

Guaranty Financial Group Inc (GFG.N), the second-largest publicly traded bank in Texas, is in talks with at least one investor group for a possible recapitalization, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

A member of the Change Movement, (bubba), has received important info regarding the banks being closed, federalization of police forces, road blocks and check points being set up, everyone needing vouchers for food and gas, etc. All this, he says, is set to take place in August or September of this year.

KNOXVILLE: Jake Butcher helped bring the World’s Fair to the city in 1982, but the collapse of his banking empire soon after "took a lot of wind out of the sails for Knoxville," he said in a recent interview. WBIR-TV in Knoxville interviewed Butcher for the station’s coverage of the 25th anniversary of the World’s Fair that began May 1, 1982. The interview, a first for Butcher in many years, was aired Tuesday evening. Butcher, 70, former chairman of United American Bank, also was chairman of the Knoxville International Energy Exposition board of directors and used his political ties and...