What You Need to Know About the Recent Bank Failures Hitting the US

The Federal Reserve Board building in Washington, on March 16, 2022. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

On March 10, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was shut down by banking regulators. This was the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history, only behind the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008 during the financial crisis. Signature Bank was shut down on March 12. First Republic Bank was seized by regulators on May 1. Worse yet, Weiss Ratings is now warning that 4,243 U.S. banks and credit unions are vulnerable to fail. Weiss Ratings—the nation’s only independent ratings agency that assesses the safety and risks of U.S. banks and credit unions—has now issued a red warning flag for 1,210 institutions that are at risk for imminent failure. In addition, 3,043 were issued a yellow warning flag; in total, 45 percent of all banks and credit unions in the United States have been deemed vulnerable.

Since the sudden closures, many bank customers have wondered about the safety of their deposits. Here’s what you need to know about what happened and how to protect your hard-earned money.

How Did We Get Here?

The financial crisis of 2008–09 was spurred by massive loan defaults in the real estate market, which ultimately led to the failure of several large banks.