that chokes the US economy. First Republic's bosses are taking a bunch of steps to shore up the bank's finances, and those include cutting back on lending.SVB ran into trouble because it had a high percentage of uninsured deposits, and invested heavily in long-dated bonds that slumped in value once the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates last spring.
The bank filled the resulting void with debt. Its borrowings surged from below $20 billion at the end of December to $138 billion in mid-March, and remained at $107 billion as of March 31. They noted First Republic had $45 billion of liquid assets and unused borrowing capacity as of April 21. That's more than double the dollar value of its uninsured deposits, if the $30 billion from Wall Street is excluded. They also flagged their decision to suspend dividends on both common and preferred stock as a cost-saving measure.
The bank's bosses also noted that uninsured deposits totaled $20 billion or 27% of its total deposits at the end of March, if the$30 billion from Wall Street is excluded. They plan to reduce that percentage by attracting more insured deposits from new customers, small businesses and non-profit organizations. They also intend to focus on keeping existing customers happy, and to make the most of their preferred banking offices.