First Republic shares tumble again as liquidity fears linger

By Medha Singh and Ankika Biswas

(Reuters) – Shares of First Republic Bank (NYSE:) tumbled 35% on Monday, adding to recent losses after a report the regional bank could raise more money fanned worries about its liquidity despite a $30 billion rescue last week.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:) CEO Jamie Dimon is leading talks with the chiefs of other big banks about fresh efforts to stabilize the San Francisco-based bank, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

JPMorgan and First Republic declined to comment on the report.

The bank’s stock fell as much as 50% and was last down 35% at $15.04 after the New York Stock Exchange halted several times due to volatility.

S&P Global (NYSE:) downgraded First Republic deeper into junk status on Sunday and said the recent cash infusion from 11 large U.S. banks may not solve its liquidity problems.

First Republic is in talks to raise capital from other banks or private equity firms by issuing new shares and could also negotiate a deal to be sold, the New York Times reported late on Friday.

On Sunday, Reuters reported that the lender was still trying to put together a capital raise but that no deal was imminent.

“The market wants a more conclusive resolution for what’s going to happen to First Republic and the only way out of that is some sort of asset sale,” said Matt Orton, chief market strategist at Raymond James Investment Management.

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First Republic’s stock market value has collapsed by over 80% in the past 10 trading sessions due to fears of a bank run as a large proportion of the lender’s deposits are uninsured.

Short sellers in First Republic made about $560 million profit on paper since last Monday, analytics firm Ortex said.

Shares of other U.S. lenders largely rebounded on Monday in tandem with their European peers as UBS Group’s state-backed takeover of troubled peer Credit Suisse Group AG appeared to allay worries that the recent banking crisis could spread further.

The deal announcement “should both ease contagion fears but also meaningfully reduce the counter-party concerns for U.S. universal banks,” said KBW analyst David Konrad.

The S&P 1500 regional banks index rebounded 1.7%, leaving it down 36% over the past two weeks. The banks index gained 1.4%, lifted by a 1% rise in JPMorgan Chase.

PacWest Bancorp climbed 12% after the bank said deposit outflows had stabilized and its available cash of more than $10.8 billion exceeded total uninsured deposits.

“We have increased confidence that PACW can make it through this liquidity crunch now that it has enough cash to cover any additional run-off in uninsured deposits,” Matthew Clark, managing director at Piper Sandler & Co said in a note.

A U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday that the deposit outflows that left many regional banks reeling in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure had slowed and in some cases reversed.

New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:) Inc surged 36% after its subsidiary agreed with U.S. regulators to buy deposits and loans from the shuttered New York-based Signature Bank (NASDAQ:).

Western Alliance (NYSE:) Bancorp fell 3.1%, while Fifth Third and U.S. Bancorp both rallied over 5%.