
FDIC to Sell Ex-Boston Private Separately from SVB
The FDIC plans to sell the legacy Boston Private business separately from the rest of Silicon Valley Bank through a new process announced this morning.
The FDIC plans to sell the legacy Boston Private business separately from the rest of Silicon Valley Bank through a new process announced this morning.
Silicon Valley Bank’s failure is creating a potential gap in financing for Massachusetts affordable housing projects and risks for commercial landlords that have a concentration of tech and life science tenants.
Massachusetts’ own Depositors Insurance Fund was a key tool in helping local banks reassure customers of the safety of their deposits while Silicon Valley Bank melted down last week. But its also lost some of the biggest names in local community banking in recent years.
The Federal Reserve has launched a review of its own supervision of Silicon Valley Bank following the bank’s failure. A top community bank group is urging the central bank to differentiate small and large banks in its response.
The bank, which has a major presence in Massachusetts after buying Boston Private Bank in 2021, failed after depositors – mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies – began withdrawing their money creating a run on the bank.
Higher net interest income has helped drive earnings at Massachusetts banks through the first three quarters of 2022, according to FDIC data.
While total deposits at Massachusetts banks continued to increase, FDIC data shows the surge that marked the first two years of the pandemic has slowed down.
Banks that charge multiple nonsufficient funds fees on a single item could be violating consumer laws, according to the FDIC.
With banks holding record volumes of commercial real estate loans, the FDIC plans to increase its focus on CRE transaction testing during its next cycle of bank examinations.
About one-third of Massachusetts-based banks reported earnings gains in the first quarter after last year saw bank earnings reach record levels, according to FDIC data.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer protection issues have risen as a key priority for federal banking regulators. And they’ve taken recent steps signaling a growing emphasis on addressing discrimination and abusive or deceptive practices.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has moved forward with plans to review bank merger policies, the next step in a move that led to controversy for the FDIC board late last year.
Weeks after a conflict arose between the FDIC chairman and board members, FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams has announced her resignation.
The controversy over proposals to review bank merger regulations continues to play out publicly, with the FDIC’s Trump-apointed chair at odds with a group of board members aligned with the Biden administration.
A request seeking public comments about bank mergers that one government agency said had been approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has come under dispute after the FDIC said the request had not been approved.
A new investment vehicle designed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will let financial institutions and other organizations provide capital to insured Minority Depository Institutions and Community Development Financial Institutions that will then request funding through a “pitch process.”
The deposit surge that began in the early days of the pandemic continued this year, according to the FDIC’s annual report on bank deposits, with Massachusetts seeing a 34 percent since 2019.
Massachusetts banks saw the pandemic-induced deposit surge continue in the fourth quarter, as the year ended with a 25 percent increase in deposits compared to 2019.
Banks with more than $500 million in assets will receive temporary relief from FDIC audit requirements if they experienced growth by participating in the Paycheck Protection Program and other economic aid activities.
More Americans than ever obtained a basic bank account in 2019, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Monday. But data was gathered before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and start of this historic recession.