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JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced on Monday that it has acquired a vast majority of First Republic Bank’s assets and assumed certain liabilities, according to Reuters.
According to the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, JPMorgan will “assume all deposits, including all uninsured deposits, and substantially all assets” of First Republic.
On Monday, the 84 branches of First Republic Bank in eight states will open again as offices of JPMorgan Chase Bank.
First Republic focuses on private banking for wealthy people, like Silicon Valley Bank did with venture capital firms before it failed in March.
Since Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank went under in early March, First Republic in San Francisco has been having a hard time. Investors and depositors grew more afraid that the bank might not be able to stay open on its own. First Republic is the third big bank in the US to fail in the past few months.
The bank has been bought and sold several times over the years. In 2007, First Republic was bought by Merrill Lynch & Co. for $1.8 billion. When Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch in 2009, it became the owner. In mid-2010, investment companies including General Atlantic and Colony Capital bought First Republic for $1.86 billion and then took it public.
On March 16, 11 US banks tried to save First Republic by putting up $30 billion in new accounts. JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., and Wells Fargo & Co. each put up $5 billion. As part of a plan made with US officials, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, and other banks offered less money.
