The daily business briefing: May 1, 2023

FDIC seizes First Republic and sells it to JPMorgan Chase, the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates again this week, and more

A First Republic Bank in California
(Image credit: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

1. Regulators seize First Republic Bank, sell it to JPMorgan

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took control of troubled First Republic Bank early Monday and accepted JPMorgan Chase's bid to buy it. Several financial institutions, including PNC Financial Services Group, put in bids before a Sunday deadline in an auction held by the FDIC, the independent agency that insures bank-customer deposits. The sale came after First Republic shares plummeted from $122.50 on March 1 to about $3 per share at the close of trading on Friday. First Republic's assets took a beating as the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates, and its financial situation worsened as customers withdrew deposits after two other mid-size lenders collapsed last month. The FDIC announced the deal hours before markets opened.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.