Deposits

Insured deposit caps are now practically meaningless, and current rules for setting deposit insurance premiums do little to block banks' excessive risk taking. There's a better way.

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.

About $2.9 billion of the deposits the company obtained from the failed Signature Bank had fled as of last week, and executives are forecasting that number to double. However, they say they're "cautiously optimistic" they can lure some deposits back.

Financial regulation scholar Mark Flannery said in a new research paper that small banks would be more likely to be negatively impacted.

The rush to onboard millions of business depositors in such a short period can strain bank resources, lead to mistakes, and cause some banks to fall behind in conducting due diligence on risky customers.

The Missouri bank was downgraded by credit rating agencies in the wake of last month's bank failures, but CEO Mariner Kemper is pushing back. "We have way, way overblown the impact of two failed banks," he said.

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.

The California bank, which was hit hard by last month's banking crisis, has partially rebuilt its deposit base. It reported a first-quarter loss, but one that was smaller than some analysts expected.

CEO Rajinder Singh said battered competitors are "throwing off" both talent and customers, creating a chance for the Miami Lakes, Florida, bank to pick up new business.

Federal officials should have protected both banks' uninsured depositors by following the law's carefully designed framework for dealing with failures of systemically important banks.