US Banking Crisis Heats Up As Regional Bank Stocks Get Crushed Ahead of FOMC Meeting

The legacy system is bracing for another potential domino to fall in the ongoing stress on the US banking system as several regional bank stocks suffer big losses early in the trading week.

Early Tuesday morning, PacWest Bancorp, which provides business banking and treasury management to small and midsized businesses, saw its share price collapse 39%.

While the exact reasoning behind PACW’s collapse isn’t immediately clear, the bank’s plunging share price has some analysts wondering whether PacWest will be the next episode in a series of hits on the American banking system.

Crypto veteran and BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes says he expects PACW to be seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

“Guess we know who is next to be deaded by the FDIC, PACW. Sadly I didn’t get any size on before the stock was halted. But my body is ready once it resumes trading.”

PACW is currently trading just above $6, 90% down from its all-time highs.

Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), an Arizona-based regional bank also dipped big Tuesday morning, shedding nearly 20% off its share price. Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp (MCB) is also currently down 18% on the day, despite beating earning expectations just weeks ago.

On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will convene to announce its next decision on interest rates, and a 0.25 bps point hike is expected.

However, former Goldman Sachs executive and Real Vision founder Raoul Pal says the Fed will likely have to think twice about another rate bump, given the situation in the banking sector.

“The banks are suggesting that the Fed would be absolutely bananas to raise rates again… and add to that the risk of more noise around the debt ceiling and possible liquidity removal. They are walking a very tight rope…

Feels like a bonds + crypto moment brewing…”

Last week, the chief investment officer from J.P. Morgan Asset Management said that the crisis in the country’s banking industry is not done claiming victims.

Addressing the collapse of First Republic Bank, Bob Michele said,

“Well, I think we have both [a banking problem and a First Republic problem]. And I think it’s somewhat naive to say that this is just limited to First Republic.

If you step back and think about it, this should never have happened. This (happened) in of the most heavily regulated, capitalized industry on the planet – banking. And the regional banking system I think is quite vital to the US.

So I think it is a crisis. I think the regional banks are heavily dependent on the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). They’re heavily dependent on the Federal Home Loan Bank to get additional cash. We don’t know how they’re going to operate when those two programs expire.”

Featured Image: Shutterstock/tostphoto/Nikelser Kate