JPMorgan Chase is buying most assets of First Republic Bank after the nation’s second-largest bank failure ever, in a deal announced early Monday that protects the deposits of First Republic’s customers. JPMorgan Chase said it had acquired “the substantial majority of assets” and assumed the deposits, insured and uninsured, of First Republic from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the independent government agency that insures deposits for bank customers.
The FDIC’s rules mean that any customers with $250,000 or less in First Republic will have those funds insured by the agency. First Republic reported last week that its uninsured deposits totaled $19.8 billion, not counting $30 billion in uninsured deposits it received from other banks as part of the attempt to keep the bank afloat. Many of the bank’s customers who withdrew money during the last month were likely above that $250,000 threshold.