Deposits

Meow and Vesto are two firms that help companies invest idle funds in safe instruments such as Treasury bills.

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.

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.

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.

The Dallas-based company is intentionally shedding certain deposit relationships that don't align with its new business model. Total quarterly deposits fell 12.6% year over year, but they rose 1% after excluding the relationships targeted for reduction, according to the bank.

Main Street companies, particularly those owned by women and minorities, depend on the flexibility of community and regional banks for their survival.

The Birmingham, Alabama, bank said that its deposits fell by $3.3 billion last quarter, and it projected a decrease of up to $2 billion between April and June. Executives assured investors that sizable liquidity sources are available.

A study published after last month's crisis finds that banks can guard against rate-driven deposit outflows by keeping more liquid funds available. It also concludes that financial institutions with higher rates of uninsured deposits are more likely to face bank runs.

The regional bank started making moves to protect deposits last year, which prevented steeper declines during a volatile first quarter, CEO Tim Spence says.

The Dallas-based bank expects some of the recent deposit outflows to return in the future.

Although the Columbus, Ohio-based regional emerged from the recent crisis relatively unscathed, management was still taking steps to shore up its balance sheet, including forgoing stock buybacks to strengthen a key capital metric.