Commentary: Another California Bank Fails After $100 Billion Run on Deposits and Rising Interest Rates Forces First Republic into FDIC Receivership

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation put the $229.1 billion California-based First Republic Bank into receivership today on May 1, while the FDIC also entered into a “purchase and assumption agreement” with JP Morgan-Chase Bank for the nation’s largest bank to assume First Republic’s assets as well as its $103.9 billion of deposits.

Another one bites the dust.

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Biden Admin Shot Down Purchase Attempts for Failed Bank, Former Trump Official Says

A former economic adviser to former President Donald Trump said Monday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) prevented several efforts to purchase Silicon Valley Bank. Federal regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank Friday after its stock price collapsed and customers began a bank run following the financial institution’s disclosure of a $1.8 billion loss on asset sales due to high interest rates, CNBC reported. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) also shut down Signature Bank Sunday, citing “systemic risk,” CNBC reported separately.

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‘Corporate Bailouts Must End’: 2024 GOP Candidates Weigh In On Silicon Valley Bank’s Collapse

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has sparked comments from 2024 GOP candidates and hopefuls about why the bank failed and what the government should do in its wake.

Declared candidates, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump, as well as contender Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have spoken out about what might have led to SVB’s collapse and against government bailouts. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took control of SVB after its Friday shut down when their stock plummeted following mass withdrawals.

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Wisconsin Senator Johnson and Colleagues Urge White House to Reverse Major Climate Policies

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson wrote jointly with several colleagues to President Joe Biden this week urging him to reverse major elements of his anti-fossil-fuel agenda. 

The letter from the senators takes issue with several actions the White House has taken to hinder investment in and use of oil, natural gas and coal in an effort the administration insists is important to lessening global warming. 

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GOP Senators Claim Biden Appointee Has Turned Consumer Protection Bureau into a ‘Lawless and Unaccountable’ Agency

Republican senators claimed in a Monday letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra that he has returned the federal agency to its “lawless and unaccountable” Obama-era “roots.”

Led by Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, the 12 senators are taking aim at Chopra’s alleged “abuses of power” that are a “serious concern.” Chopra should “reverse course” and ensure the CFPB “stay[s] within the boundaries of law,” the senators wrote.

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Commentary: Congress Shouldn’t Let ‘Operation Choke Point’ Return to Tennessee

On January 29, the U.S. Congress’ Committee on Financial Services will hold a hearing on whether the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is undermining the effectiveness of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which helps low- and moderate-income communities secure loans. At this hearing, it is critical that Members of Congress speak out against the decisionmakers who have thus far ignored the renaissance of Operation Choke Point throughout the country. The resurrection of this practice, sometimes referred to as biased banking, violates both the CRA and official OCC policy, and, if not stopped soon, will have severe ramifications for Memphis and the State of Tennessee at large.

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