The ailing Pacific Western Bank of California has nothing to do with Pacific West Bancorp.
(Photo: AP)
New York/Dusseldorf Similar names are causing confusion among US regional banks: Pacific West Bancorp (PWB), a small Oregon-based bank, fears being confused with California bank Pacific Western (Pacwest).
“Recent local and national news reports have highlighted the financial difficulties of a similarly-named bank in California, leading to concerns that PWB may also be facing similar challenges.” which is in no way affiliated with the California-based bank”.
Because the future of the Pacwest is uncertain. The company announced this week that it was in talks with investors and partners. According to Reuters and Bloomberg, a sale is also up for debate.
The lender hopes to avoid the fate of other regional banks taken over by US regulators in the past two months by proactively finding a solution and strengthening its finances, Reuters quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying.
Incorrectly managed interest rate risks triggered the first digital bank run in US history at the beginning of March. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) customers had tried to withdraw $142 billion, or 80 percent of all deposits, within two days. This led to the SVB being placed under the FDIC deposit insurance scheme and ultimately having to file for bankruptcy. As a result, other regional banks stumbled, including Pacwest.
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Pacwest announced in its quarterly results that deposits had stabilized after some customers withdrew their money. But investors would continue to dump shares over concerns about the bank’s future. The share then crashed, since the beginning of the banking crisis in March, the papers have lost almost 90 percent of their value.
In contrast to its namesake, PWB does not see itself affected by the turbulence in the banking sector. Business is normal and stable, the institute assured on its website.
Nevertheless, Pacwest’s fall in price has an obvious impact on the stocks of Pacific West Bancorp: In March, when the first US regional banks began to falter and Pacwest stock lost 26 percent from one day to the next, the stocks of Pacific West also slumped Bancorp in Oregon.
Shares in PWB, which with a market cap of $28 million is significantly smaller than Pacwest’s around $415 million, are faring much better than many other U.S. stocks, down 3.6 percent this year. regional banks.
Confusion also at First Republic and a bank in Pennsylvania
Pacific West isn’t the first bank to worry about a mix-up in the wake of the recent turmoil: “We are NOT First Republic Bank,” wrote Thomas Geisel, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Republic First Bancorp in a letter on the website of his company.
He was referring to troubled San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which was taken over by regulators and sold to JP Morgan Chase & Co. earlier this week.
With agency material
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