Ex-First Republic CEO blames contagion for bank's collapse (updated)

First Republic Bank

17/05/2023 06:05

(Adds details in paragraph 3 and background)
       May 17 (Reuters) - The former chief executive of the
First Republic Bank Michael Roffler blamed the bank's collapse
on the contagion from the failures of other regional banks and
said regulators did not express concerns regarding the bank's
strategy, liquidity, or management performance. 
    A total of over $100 billion in deposits were withdrawn from
the bank over the course of weeks in response to an
industry-wide panic about the soundness of regional banks,
Roffler said in his prepared testimony to the Senate Banking
Committee that will be delivered at a hearing on Wednesday.
    "We could not have anticipated that Silicon Valley Bank and
Signature Bank would fail, or that the failure of those banks
would trigger substantial deposit outflows at our bank," he
said.
        First Republic's financial position and strategy were
regularly reviewed by the California Department of Financial
Protection and Innovation (DFPI) and the FDIC, he said.
  
        California banking regulators 
    shut
     down First Republic Bank on May 1 and sold its assets to
JPMorgan Chase & Co  JPM.N , in a deal to resolve the largest
U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis and draw a
line under lingering banking turmoil.
        
  
        
  

 (Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim
Coghill and Christian Schmollinger)
 ((Nilutpal.Timsina@thomsonreuters.com; +91 86382 04706;))