About 1,000 First Republic Bank employees to be laid off about a month after it was seized by regulators and acquired by JP Morgan Chase
NEW YORK — About 1,000 First Republic Bank employees are being laid off about a month after it was seized by regulators and acquired by JP Morgan Chase.
The vast majority of First Republic’s employees, about 7,200 before it ran into trouble, were offered jobs by JPMorgan, which meant that about 15% of the bank’s employees were laid off.
When First Republic failed and was bought by JPMorgan on May 1, JPMorgan executives said they planned to take 30 days to figure out new roles for First Republic’s employees and that not every employee would be guaranteed a job. to get.
“We recognize that they have been under stress and uncertainty since March and hope that today will bring clarity and closure,” the bank said in a written statement.
First Republic cut about 25% of its workforce before JPMorgan stepped in. Bank employees who do not get a job at JPMorgan will receive 60 days of extra pay and benefits, the bank said. Additional payments to those who are laid off are based on how long they have worked at First Republic.
San Francisco-based First Republic Bank became the second largest bank failure in US history. Regulators sold all of its deposits and most of its assets to JPMorgan Chase to restore order after three banks, including Signature and Silicon Valley banks, collapsed, threatening to undermine confidence in the US banking system.
However, the banks were unique for their clients’ large, uninsured deposits and exposure to the tech industry, which was hammered by rising interest rates that made borrowing more expensive.