US bank First Republic shares plunge amid fears of another bank failiure

First Republic Bank’s stock is plunging before the opening bell after it said depositors withdrew more than $100 billion during last month’s crisis, with fears swirling that it could be the third bank to fail after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The San Francisco bank said Monday that it was only able to stanch the bleeding after a group of large banks stepped in to save it by depositing $30 billion in uninsured deposits.

It said it now plans to sell off assets and restructure its balance sheet, and lay off as much as a quarter of its workforce, which totaled about 7,200 employees at the end of 2022.

“With still a large level of uncertainty in outcomes and expected losses beyond the next year, we recommend investors sell shares as the outlook appears largely unclear,” Citi analyst Arren Cyganovich says in a note to clients.

Shares tumbled more than 21% in premarket trading.