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How a bank failure 150 years ago still shapes many Black Americans' relationships to financial institutions

Feb 15, 2024
The Freedman’s Bank was the first opportunity for formerly enslaved people to save and protect their money. But its failure in less than a decade still haunts Black Americans today.
Pictured above, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge at the Freedman’s Bank Forum held at the Treasury Department in 2022.
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By acquiring First Republic, JPMorgan becomes "too big to be too-big-to-fail"

The reverberations of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse have taken down First Republic. What's next for the financial industry?
JPMorgan Chase's acquisition of First Republic further consolidates the industry in the country's largest bank, says the University of Michigan's Erik Gordon.
Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

Are bank supervisors, or bank rules, too lax?

Mar 20, 2023
Do banking rules need tightening? Do supervisors need better training and greater powers? The answer will influence what comes next.
Politicians and lobbyists are debating whether Silicon Valley Bank collapsed due to a regulatory or supervisory failure. Above, Sen. Charles Grassley confers with Sen. John Cornyn during a Finance Committee hearing.
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Banks will pay the cost of SVB's collapse, and maybe that's "how it should be"

Mar 13, 2023
As the government moved to backstop depositors affected by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, surviving banks will end up footing the costs, says Laurie Stewart at Sound Community Bank in Seattle.
The federal government announced it would ensure that depositors affected by Silicon Valley Bank's collapse would be made whole. "I'm really happy for them," said Laurie Stewart. "But here's the thing: we're gonna pay for it. Banks are going to pay for it."
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Bank failures add another dose of anxiety to uncertain economy

Mar 13, 2023
Viral terms like "bank run" do not help when we're already looking at high prices, rising interest rates and big layoffs in tech.
People line up outside a Silicon Valley Bank office in Santa Clara, California, on Monday. Worries were stoked by widespread news of bank failures, and some people received alarming emails from vendors associated with SVB.
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