Activist investor Nelson Peltz has warned that the First Republic may not be the latest US regional bank to fail, renewing calls for extended deposit insurance to safeguard regional lenders.
Peltz, co-founder and chief executive officer of Trian Fund Management, told the Financial Times that depositors with more than $250,000 in an accredited bank in the United States would have to pay a small insurance premium to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Funds from these fees would be used to insure deposits in excess of the current FDIC-covered $250,000 threshold, helping prevent outflows from regional banks to larger lenders such as those seen during the recent banking turmoil.
“It should stop the outflow of deposits from small regional and community banks,” Peltz said. “I don’t think we want all the funds to just go to the major banks.”
The growth of digital banking and the speed with which a crisis of confidence can proliferate on social media has made lenders far more vulnerable than in the past to a run on the bank if depositors lose confidence.
Bank runs have crashed three US lenders since March: Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic. The latter was placed into receivership early Monday in a deal that will result in JPMorgan Chase taking over most of the company went bankrupt.
The First Republic bailout didn’t stop a sell-off in regional bank stocks as investors looked for other weak links in the system. On WednesdayPacWest said it was reviewing strategic options in the worst industry turmoil since 2008.
“I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t know what these banks’ balance sheets look like,” Peltz said. “If that stopped with JPMorgan’s acquisition of First Republic, I’d be happy, but that might not.”
There are more than 4,100 commercial banks in the United States, according to the FDIC.
“We are one of the few countries that has a large infrastructure of small regional and community banks,” Peltz said. “They’ve been serving the needs of small businesses for over a hundred years – I think we can’t afford to let them go.”
“I believe regional banks are the backbone of many businesses and real estate in the United States,” he added. “This is the way to give them continued influence and strength.”
Peltz is best known for his activist campaigns at companies such as Disney, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Trian does not own any banks but holds positions in asset managers Janus Henderson and Invesco.
The billionaire investor said that a secondary effect of his proposal would be to attract capital flows into the country and “help the dollar remain as the [world’s] fiat currency. I think it’s important to all of us in the West.
“I believe you could see many fiat currencies entering the United States, whether it be euros, pounds or yuan. These deposits would find their way to a US bank and be placed in US dollars. As an American, that makes me happy,” she added.
Peltz’s proposal comes as US financial regulators are looking at ways to try to reduce the risk of bank runs. Earlier this week the FDIC advised partially revamp American deposit insurance to increase coverage of daily business accounts as one way to do this.
The FDIC did not specify in the report how much the coverage limit for commercial transaction accounts should be increased. But he calculated that an increase to $2.5 million would likely cover what most small and medium-sized businesses needed to keep in their accounts to cover payroll.
Raising the overall limit or adding targeted coverage would require congressional approval and increase the fees charged to banks for participating in the insurance program.
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