Polo Rocha is a Mexico-based freelance reporter who worked at American Banker from 2021 to early 2025, covering consumer finance and national banking trends. He previously covered the Federal Reserve at S&P Global Market Intelligence and state politics at WisPolitics.com. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has a master's in finance degree from Johns Hopkins University.
-
Liberty Bank, an $11.6 million-asset lender in Salt Lake City, is the first FDIC-supervised bank in six years to be hit with the lowest Community Reinvestment Act rating possible twice in a row. Regulators identified an unspecified "illegal credit practice" during their review of the bank's performance.
By Polo RochaMay 4 -
Industry leaders hoped that the emergency sale of First Republic Bank would quell investors' fears, but many banks saw big stock price declines on Tuesday. The instability could put pressure on lawmakers and policymakers to take more decisive action.
By Polo RochaMay 2 -
An emergency deal for First Republic Bank will help boost JPMorgan's wealth management business. But company executives acknowledge that there are questions about how many of the failed bank's clients and wealth advisors it will be able to retain.
By Polo RochaMay 1 -
First Republic Bank was shuttered by regulators early Monday, and all its deposits and most of its assets were acquired by JPMorgan. San Francisco-based First Republic was undone by low-rate mortgages it made to its wealthy customers as well as by the fallout from last month's banking crisis.
By Polo RochaMay 1 -
The troubled lender could fail, get rescued by the nation's largest banks or muddle through as a zombie bank. Federal regulators and the big banks will have to decide which is the least bad option.
By Polo RochaApril 28 -
Some 77% of banks did not did not record significant deposit inflows or outflows following Silicon Valley Bank's failure, according to a survey of executives at 567 institutions. The findings highlight the stability of many smaller banks' deposit bases.
By Polo RochaApril 26 -
Banks with more than $100 billion of assets expect tougher regulations in the wake of last month's bank failures. They say that any changes to capital and liquidity standards should happen gradually in order to avoid spooking investors.
By Polo RochaApril 24 -
The San Francisco bank, on shaky ground after two regional peers failed last month, said that customers pulled more than 40% of their deposits last quarter. It's been forced to turn to more expensive sources of funding, which analysts said will squeeze its profitability.
By Polo RochaApril 24 -
The Cleveland-based regional bank said that its net interest income fell 10% — and profits declined by an even larger percentage — as it paid more to retain depositors. Still, CEO Chris Gorman said the company is "well prepared to handle the deposit challenges in front of the market."
By Polo RochaApril 20 -
Charles Schwab's underwater securities portfolio has prompted some analysts to lump it together with Silicon Valley Bank. CEO Walt Bettinger says those views are vastly mistaken.
By Polo RochaApril 17 -
The San Francisco bank identified "signs of weakness" and increased its loan loss reserves substantially. Small and midsize banks have significantly larger exposures than Wells does to the office segment, which has been hit by changing work habits.
By Polo RochaApril 14 -
The decrease in long-term interest rates this year has helped banks' bond portfolios recover a bit. Some of them may consider restructuring their securities portfolios in the short run, and longer-term changes are also possible as the fallout from last month's crisis continues.
By Polo RochaApril 12 -
The world's largest retailer sued Capital One over their four-year-old credit card partnership, saying the bank failed to meet customer service standards. The McLean, Virginia-based bank disputed the allegations, and analysts said that the firm could compensate by landing new credit card partnerships or cutting back on marketing expenses.
By Polo RochaApril 10 -
Some concerns linger over the sector after Silicon Valley Bank's collapse last month. The most pressing worry now, analysts say, is not whether banks will survive but how much money they'll make in the coming months.
By Polo RochaApril 5 -
The Spanish banking giant is doubling down on its U.S. operations, unlike other foreign-owned banks that have abandoned efforts to reach American consumers. It's doing so partly by better integrating its large auto lending business with its retail bank.
By Polo RochaApril 3 -
The banks invested in bonds at a time when rates were low, and their value has since dropped substantially. While there appears to be very little risk that the banks will ever have to realize the losses, an American Banker data analysis raises questions about whether regulators should toughen their monitoring of interest rate risk.
By Polo RochaMarch 27 -
There were many red flags before the California bank failed last week. Now the questions are: How did federal and state regulators assess the risks, and what actions did they take in response?
March 16 -
Many banks whose shares got hammered a day earlier rebounded strongly, with double-digit gains at Western Alliance Bancorp, First Republic Bank and PacWest Bancorp in midafternoon trading.
By Polo RochaMarch 14 -
The KBW Nasdaq Bank Index dropped 9.6% on Monday as the fallout from two bank failures prompted investors to trim their exposures. Some regional institutions saw declines of 30% or more, while the nation's largest banks had much more modest declines.
By Polo RochaMarch 13 -
The San Francisco-based bank, whose stock came under pressure after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, said the increased borrowing capacity strengthens and diversifies its funding. The bank's "capital and liquidity positions are very strong," executives said.
By Polo RochaMarch 12




















