More regional bank stocks slide, but deposits aren’t fleeing

PacWest Bancorp and Western Alliance both saw steep declines.

Shares of PacWest Bancorp lost more than half their value, after the company issued a statement overnight saying it was in “ongoing” discussions with partners and investors. The stock, which traded near $27 per share before the March 10 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, closed at $3.17.

Western Alliance, a regional lender based in Phoenix, saw its shares tumble by more than 38 percent. Both banks said their deposit totals remained robust.

Several other regional institutions, such as Comerica, Zions Bancorp and Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp., suffered lesser share price declines. But the market action came days after federal regulators shuttered regional lender First Republic and sold it to JPMorgan Chase, which many analysts hoped would stop the bleeding.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell pronounced the banking system “sound and resilient,” echoing remarks earlier in the week from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who told reporters the industry was “getting near the end” of the crisis.

“The market is just moving on from First Republic, looking for the next weakest gazelle,” said David Smith, a banking analyst with Autonomous Research.

Neither PacWest nor Western Alliance seem to be suffering from a classic bank run of the sort that felled SVB, according to their most recent financial statements.

There is no public indication of a similar exodus at either of the banks that investors hammered Thursday.

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