This Year's Bank Failures Eclipse 2008 Levels

By
Taylor Tompkins
Taylor Tompkins
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Taylor Tompkins has worked for more than a decade as a journalist covering business, finance, and the economy. She has logged thousands of hours interviewing experts, analyzing data, and writing articles to help readers understand economic forces. She is the Economics Editor for news at Investopedia.

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Published May 01, 2023
A man walks past a First Republic bank in Manhattan on May 1, 2023 in New York City.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

It is only May, but the bank collapses so far this year are already larger than any other year in the past two decades.

First Republic Bank (FRC), Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank are the second, third, and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history. This year's collapses are even bigger than those during the 2008 financial crisis.

At $548.5 billion, the combined assets of the three banks that collapsed in 2023, eclipse the total assets of all banks that failed in 2008 by $175 billion and are just about $173 billion short of equaling all other bank failures since 2001.

It only took about two months for these banks to fall this year. The high-profile bank failures began in March, when the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) placed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, under receivership, assuming control of their assets, liabilities, and deposits.

The failure of the two banks set off turmoil within the regional banking sector, which dragged down First Republic Bank. The San Francisco-based bank weathered a tumultuous month of plummeting stock prices and failed attempts to seek a buyer, before ultimately also being put under FDIC receivership early Monday morning.

The collapse of the three banks is costing the FDIC roughly $36 billion of its Deposit Insurance Fund.

Article Sources
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  1. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, Columbus, Ohio Assumes All the Deposits of First Republic Bank, San Francisco, California."

  2. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. "Bank Failures in Brief – Summary 2001 through 2023."

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