AfE 2024
If there was ever a time that demonstrated JPMorgan’s credentials as the country’s best bank, it was the crisis in March and April 2023 when US regional banks suddenly faced a balance sheet reckoning triggered by the rapid change in interest rates.
That it was JPMorgan that authorities turned to at the end of April for the lowest-cost solution to a struggling First Republic Bank was no surprise.
JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon takes a pragmatic view of these kinds of situations, seeing it as often worth bidding for failing banks to avoid having to contribute to a higher-cost alternative when the next Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) assessment is levied to top up the industry’s rescue funds.
And so, on the last weekend of April, JPMorgan found itself poring over First Republic’s financials and preparing to assume its obligations on the Monday morning.