#First Republic Bank Collapse

[mfi-miami]

First Republic Collapse Was Caused By Interest-Only Jumbo Loans

Generous Interest-Only Jumbo Loans To Super Wealthy Customers Is What Drove First Republic Over The Cliff It appears the First Republic collapse was caused by the bank giving out attractive multi-million dollar interest-only jumbo loans to wealthy clients. The failed bank sold loans with rock bottom interest rates to rich clients. Several of these clients included Goldman Sachs President John…

[nicklloydnow]

“Big banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. are vying to buy First Republic Bank in a deal that would follow a government seizure of the troubled lender, according to people familiar with the matter.

A seizure and sale of First Republic by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. could come as soon as this weekend, the people said.

The San Francisco-based bank has teetered for weeks following the March 10 failure of fellow Bay Area lender Silicon Valley Bank. The SVB meltdown spurred panicky First Republic customers to pull around $100 billion in deposits in a matter of days.

The stock has lost some 97% of its value since.

(…)

A seizure and sale of First Republic would cap the astonishing collapse of a lender that was, until recently, the envy of finance. With some $233 billion in assets at the end of the first quarter, it would be the second-largest bank to fail in U.S. history.”

“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has asked banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., PNC Financial Services Group Inc., US Bancorp and Bank of America Corp. to submit final bids for First Republic Bank by Sunday after gauging initial interest earlier in the week, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The regulator reached out to banks late Thursday seeking indications of interest, including a proposed price and an estimated cost to the agency’s deposit insurance fund. Based on those submissions Friday, the regulator invited some firms to the next step in the bidding process, the people said, asking not to be named discussing the confidential talks.

(…)

JPMorgan is among a small number of giant banks that have already amassed more than 10% of nationwide deposits, making the firm ineligible under US regulations to acquire another deposit-taking institution. Authorities would have to make an exception to allow the country’s largest bank to get even bigger.”

[news-ld]

US bank First Republic collapses on Wall Street

Outdoors a First Republic bank department in New York on April 28, 2023. EDUARDO MUNOZ / REUTERS The dive by no means ends. The American regional bank First Republic continued to break down on Friday April 28 on Wall Street after a brief respite. Rumors a few technique or a rescue plan are multiplying with out materializing for the second. Newest: based on wall avenue journal, the American company chargeable for guaranteeing bank deposits, the FDIC, may take management of the bank this weekend after which promote its belongings to a different institution. JPMorgan Chase and PNC Monetary Providers are among the many firms , provides the enterprise each day, citing sources acquainted with the matter. The motion of First Republic ended down 43% on the New York Inventory Alternate on Friday, at 3.51 {dollars} (3.15 euros), after being suspended a number of instances through the session for extreme volatility. This values ​​it at $654 million, down from over $20 billion firstly of the yr and over $40 billion at its peak in November 2021. Learn additionally: Article reserved for our subscribers In the USA, the First Republic Bank is in flip on the brink Based in 1985, First Republic was, on the finish of 2022, the fourteenth largest bank within the nation by measurement of belongings. Primarily based in San Francisco, it has a community of companies primarily positioned in California and in city areas of the East Coast, which serve a rich clientele.

After the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank

Its destiny has been pending for the reason that shut failures of three American banks with related profiles originally of March, that's to say concentrated on a clientele and – or – a specific geographical space. The authorities and different monetary establishments quickly got here to its rescue to stop it from experiencing the identical destiny as Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, particularly chapter after sudden large withdrawals from their prospects. Learn additionally: Article reserved for our subscribers The SVB and Credit score Suisse circumstances, illustration of flaws in banking regulation First Republic confirmed late Monday that a lot of its prospects withdrew deposits, greater than $100 billion in complete within the first quarter. She was in a position to depend on the 30 billion contributed by the opposite banks in her accounts, however that is inadequate within the eyes of traders, who plunged the motion on Tuesday and Wednesday earlier than giving her a break on Thursday. The administration introduced some measures on Monday night to strengthen the monetary well being of the bank. She additionally identified that she was finding out “strategic choices” however with out giving many particulars. Intervention of the authorities? Sale of the bank as an entire or of solely sure belongings? Established order, betting on an upcoming drop in rates of interest? Rumors abound since about potential options however with none official announcement. The situation of a takeover of the institution by the authorities earlier than the resale of the belongings at a decreased worth is without doubt one of the almost certainly. The authorities, nonetheless, could also be reluctant to avoid wasting a 3rd bank in a short while. Learn additionally: Article reserved for our subscribers Confidence, credit score: the banking disaster, a further threat for the financial system The World with AFP Source link Read the full article

[adropofhumanity]

the 10 crises the world must not look away from:

1. SUDAN

24.8 million people in need of humanitarian aid. a still-escalating war brings sudan to the top of the watchlist. fighting has more than doubled humanitarian needs in less than a year and displaced 6.6 million people- bringing the country to the brink of collapse. more people are internally displaced within sudan than in any other country on earth. in darfur, human rights groups have reported mass killings and forced displacement along ethnic lines.

2. PALESTINE

3.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid (gaza and the west bank). gaza enters 2024 as the deadliest place for civilians in the world. i*****i airstrikes and fighting have had a direct and devastating impact on civilians that will continue to grow as hostilities persist into early 2024, at least. with more than 18,700 palestinians killed, 85% of the population displaced, and over 60% of gaza's housing units destroyed, people living in gaza will struggle to recover and rebuild their lives long after the fighting ends.

3. SOUTH SUDAN

9 million people in need of humanitarian aid. the war across the border in sudan threatens to undermine south sudan's fragile economy and could add to political tensions in the run-up to the country's first-ever elections. meanwhile, an economic crisis and increased flooding have impacted families' ability to put food on the table. a predicted fifth year of flooding could also damage livelihoods and drive displacement.

4. BURKINA FASO

6.3 million people in need of humanitarian aid. as the burkinabè military struggles to contain armed groups, violence is rapidly growing and spreading across the country. roughly 50% of the country is now outside government control.

5. MYANMAR

18.6 million people in need of humanitarian aid. the conflict in myanmar has spread significantly since the military retook political power in 2021. 18.6 million people in myanmar are now in need of humanitarian assistance - nearly 19 times more than before the military takeover. myanmar has seen decades of conflict, but in oct. 2023, three major armed groups resumed clashes with the government. over 335,000 people have been newly displaced since the latest escalation began.

7. MALI

6.2 million people in need of humanitarian aid. dual security and economic crises are driving up civilian harm and humanitarian needs. conflict between the military government and armed groups will likely escalate.

8. SOMALIA

6.9 million people in need of humanitarian aid. somalia faces heightened conflict and climate risks after a record drought. more recently, widespread flooding has displaced more than 700,000 people and will likely continue into early 2024.

9. NIGER

4.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid. a coup in july 2023 triggered massive instability that risks a rapid worsening of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country.

10. ETHIOPIA

20 million people in need of humanitarian aid. communities across the country are facing the twin threats of multiple conflicts and the likelihood of el niño-induced flooding. the nov. 2022 ceasefire between the government of ethiopia and the tigray people's liberation front (TPLF) continues to hold in northern ethiopia, but other conflicts, particularly in the central oromia region and in amhara in the northwest, are fueling humanitarian needs and raising the risk of a return to large-scale fighting.

11. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

25.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid. weak state capacity has exposed many congolese to one of the world's most protracted crises, driven by conflict, economic pressures, climate shocks and persistent disease outbreaks. now, a resumed offensive by the M23 armed group is driving up conflict and humanitarian needs. the country enters 2024 with 25.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance - more than any other country on earth. the magnitude of the crisis has strained services, created high levels of food insecurity and fueled the spread of disease.

— via my.linda__ on instagram

[mariacallous]

It was one thing to anticipate this prolonged political moment; it has been, these past weeks, quite another to live it. Each day is its own fresh hell, bringing ever more outrageous news from an autocrat who revels in his contempt for the government he leads, for the foreign allies who deserve our support, and for the Constitution he is sworn to uphold. Since beginning his second term, six weeks ago, Donald Trump has commandeered public attention to such an extent that it is hard to recall that there was ever a time when an American President went about his first weeks in office in a frenzy of activity characterized not by threat, chaos, and corruption but by discipline, competence, and compassion.

Yet there was such a time. On the overcast morning of March 4, 1933, Franklin Roosevelt arrived at the U.S. Capitol to deliver his first Inaugural Address. The country was in a general state of misery. Since the start of the Depression, in late 1929, one out of three American workers had lost his job. Countless schools were shuttered. Banks were collapsing. Edmund Wilson, reporting for The New Republic, wrote that “there is not a garbage-dump in Chicago which is not diligently haunted by the hungry.”

Roosevelt, having defeated Herbert Hoover in the popular vote by eighteen points, could honestly boast of a mandate and understood its meaning. As he said in his speech at the Capitol, the demands of the “stricken” electorate were clear: “This nation asks for action, and action now.” Before the notion of a President’s “first hundred days” was ever codified, he set off on a tear of executive orders and legislative initiatives. Roosevelt, with the support of enormous Democratic majorities in Congress, quickly saved the national banking system, took the U.S. off the gold standard, paid out significant relief to the poor, and created federal agencies that not only provided work to the jobless but helped revive the country’s economy and infrastructure for decades to come.

It has not taken Trump a hundred days to match Roosevelt’s New Deal for its speed, its “muzzle velocity,” as Steve Bannon, Trump’s formerly incarcerated court philosopher, has put it. But, while Roosevelt set a modern standard for the revitalization of a society, Trump seems determined to prove how quickly he can spark its undoing. In record time, he has brought shame and disorder to the country. Where F.D.R. set out to build and to comfort, Trump has set out to fire countless civil servants, punish his adversaries, and threaten the press. He has cast aside essential climate actions, humiliated undocumented immigrants and trans men and women, coddled dictators, and unnerved allies. F.D.R. appointed Cordell Hull, Harold Ickes, and other formidable advisers to his first Cabinet; Trump has empowered extremists distinguished principally by their conspiracy thinking, sycophancy, and incompetence.

F.D.R. created the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Tennessee Valley Authority; Trump has deputized Elon Musk, who has billions of dollars in contracts with multiple federal agencies, to freeze federal funding for programs that millions of Americans depend on and to fire thousands of workers in vital government agencies. “We will make mistakes,” Musk said in the White House, flashing a smile of privilege and malice. So far, these little goofs include, but are not limited to, momentarily laying off people who oversee the nuclear-weapons stockpile and cancelling Ebola-prevention measures.

Roosevelt, in his time, led the conquest of global fascism and the rescue of Europe. On matters of foreign policy, Trump has rapidly made common cause with autocrats from Budapest to Beijing and has made it clear to our European allies that when they come to Washington they had best flatter his ego and bear gifts, such as an invitation to visit King Charles. In the Oval Office on Friday, Trump nakedly sided with Russian aggression, berating the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, for failing to show him sufficient gratitude and respect and for “gambling with World War Three.” Zelensky is a hero of historic scale, brave beyond measure; Trump’s behavior was disgraceful. He and his Vice-President, J. D. Vance, deliberately tried to intimidate Zelensky with all the finesse of a couple of small-time hoods. The incident was both shocking and inevitable, all in line with the over-all temper of Trump’s Presidency—the threats, the firings, the multiple doge fiascoes, the proposal to cleanse the Gaza Strip of two million Palestinians.

Is this really what Trump’s supporters voted for? How does the decimation of American values, institutions, and commitments bring down the price of eggs? Writing in Foreign Affairs, Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way make a painstaking and convincing case that most autocracies that have emerged since the end of the Cold War retain certain democratic features, particularly elections, but weaponize the state, purging it of perceived enemies. This sort of “competitive” autocracy—like Erdoğan’s Turkey and Orbán’s Hungary—is, the authors argue, what is now taking shape in Washington. To minimize the unending fusillade of Trump’s first weeks in office, to choose to turn away, to shut off the news, is to indulge in self-soothing.

There is no guarantee that Trump’s perverse momentum will slow, or be derailed, of its own accord. He has the unwavering support of his MAGA base, the cowed compliance of his congressional caucus, and the backing of multibillionaires such as Jeff Bezos, who would rather diminish the vitality of his newspaper than risk the dinner invitations of the sovereign.

And yet the current torrent, fuelled by years of planning in right-wing circles and by Trump’s demagogic energies, is hardly unstoppable. Will working-class and middle-class Americans tolerate the self-indulgence and the corruptions of Trump’s favored billionaires while their own interests go unaddressed? Will Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is currently being tested by an outbreak of measles in Texas, have the public’s trust in the event of another pandemic? We have already seen how at least some courageous judges, governors, and law-enforcement officials have refused to bow down to the politicization of the law, or, as Levitsky and Way put it, the weaponization of the state.

Roosevelt, at the start of his Inaugural Address, said that there was no need “to shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today.” In our time, the crisis resides in the Oval Office. Whether there is a mandate for what is being practiced there will be made clear in the months to come––in Congress, in the courts, in the press, in the streets, and, eventually, at the ballot box. Fear itself was the singular enemy in Roosevelt’s time. It remains so today.

[stephensmithuk]

The Sign of Four: The End of the Islander

Mediæval is an archaic spelling of medieval, using the æ letter that is rare in English, but far more common in Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic, for example.

Ceylon was the name used for what is now Sri Lanka until 1972, when that country (which become independent in 1948) become a Republic. Today, the name only really remains in the country for Ceylon tea, apparently for marketing reasons.

There has been a police force dedicated to the Thames since 1798, being founded as the privately funded Marine Police to tackle the high volume of cargo theft from ships there. Two years later, the government set up the Thames River Police to replace the successful force. The Metropolitan Police took it over in 1839 and made it the Thames Division, it now being called the Marine Policing Unit. Historically, they also did search and rescue, today done by the RNLI.

They had just acquired their first steam launches by 1888, historically relying on rowing boats that had proved inadequate in an 1878 two-ship collision that had killed 600 to 700 people.

Gravesend is on the south bank of the Thames, twenty-one miles from Charing Cross. It was the first port of entry into London for a long time, but the opening of Tilbury Docks on the other side of the river took much of its traffic. The pilot station for the Port of London remains there, along with a RNLI lifeboat station.

There was also a ferry from Gravesend to Tilbury until March 2024, when it stopped due to lack of funding from the 'bankrupt' Thurrock Council, despite being popular.

Pocahontas is also buried in Gravesend.

The Downs is a ship anchorage off the port of Deal in Kent; ships would - and still do - anchor there to protect themselves from strong southerly or westerly winds (as the coast blocked them) or if waiting for suitable winds to head elsewhere. Indeed, the port town grew up to deal (pun intended) with their needs during their says.

There would be six bridges east of Westminster Bridge on the Thames at this time; Tower Bridge, opened in 1886, would be the easternmost crossing point that a pedestrian or carriage could use at this point. The Thames Tunnel was by now a railway tunnel. Those to the east of that were reliant on ferries until 1897, when the western part of the Blackwall Tunnel opened, in a few years becoming the bottleneck it still is to this day.

St Paul's Cathedral, at 111m high, was the tallest building in London from 1710 until 1939 when Battersea Power Station was completed at two metres taller. . Today, there are still restrictions on building new skyscrapers in London to ensure the catherdal can still be viewed.

The Tower of London had been a tourist attraction since at least the Elizabethean period; it was getting over 500,000 visitors a year by the end of the century, but still retained some non-tourist uses.

The Pool of London is the bit of the river from London Bridge to Limehouse - it was the site of the original port until the Docklands were built to deal with massive overcrowding. The maritime industry here effectively collapsed along with the rest of the docks in the 1960s, but this area hasn't seen as much regeneration as parts further east.

The West India Docks were three large docks and associated buildings built at the beginning of the 19th century (1800 to 1802) to deal with trade to/from the British West Indies, to wit the sugar produced by the slave labour in the plantations there; Robert Milligan, its architect, was a slave trader who was unhappy about the delays and theft of his goods at the wharves, so wanted a more secure facility. Closed in 1980, it was converted into the Canary Wharf development, with the famous Underground station built in the former middle dock.

Now I have mistaken a Newfoundland dog for a coat-wearing homeless person in the dark myself - they are very big dogs. However, this has to be taken in the context of the rest of the description of Tonga.

Barking Level is where the River Roding enters the Thames. It is a largely industrial area today.

Plumstead Marshes were an area of low-lying soggy ground that was used by the Royal Arsenal (see "The Bruce-Partington Plans") as a testing range; no human inhabitants (since Roman times, when the water levels were lower) and the soft ground could absorb explosions better. They were drained in the 1960s and most of the area become the new community of Thamesmead; one of those "futuristic estates" that instead became crime-ridden due to bad planning and lack of amenities, which have not yet been fully corrected.

A slightly graphic (including a nasty facial/eye injury) discussion of the problems of recovering bodies from the Thames can be found in this February 2024 news article on the search for a chemical attacker's body: https://news.sky.com/story/the-traumatising-search-for-dead-bodies-in-the-thames-and-why-dozens-are-found-every-year-13071612

[blueiscoool]

The Rise and Fall of The Praetorian Guard

THE PRAETORIAN GUARD WERE AN ELITE UNIT WITHIN THE IMPERIAL ARMY, SERVING PRIMARILY AS PERSONAL PROTECTORS AND INTELLIGENCE OPERATIVES FOR THE ROMAN EMPERORS.

The roots of the guard can be found during the Roman Republic, when soldiers served as protectors for Roman generals and important figures, or as elite guards for military praetors.

High-ranked generals with imperium held public office by serving as a magistrate or promagistrate. They were assigned a civil servant, lictors, to serve as an attendant and bodyguard. Where no personal bodyguard was assigned, senior field officers safeguarded themselves with temporary bodyguard units of selected soldiers.

Around 40 BC, Octavian, who would later become Emperor Caesar Augustus, installed praetorians within the pomerium (a religious boundary around the city of Rome), the first example of troops being permanently garrisoned in Rome proper.

Members of the guard accompanied Augustus on active campaigns, protecting the civic administrations and rule of law. At camp, the cohors praetoria (a cohort of praetorians guarding the commander), were posted near the praetorium, the tent of the commander, which the guard is believed to be named after.

After the construction of Rome’s Praetorian camp known as the Castra Praetoria around 23 BC, their role extended to escorting the emperor and the members of the imperial family, and to serve as a policing force during times of riot.

According to the Roman historian and politician, Tacitus, the guard around this time numbered nine Praetorian cohorts (4500 men, the equivalent of a legion), however, an inscription from near the end of Augustus’s rule suggests that their numbers were briefly increased to twelve.

The Praetorian Guard, like all legionaries, shared similar insignia, mainly on their shields. Praetorian Guard shields included wings and thunderbolts, referring to Jupiter, and also uniquely included scorpions, stars and crescents.

The first military engagement of the Praetorian Guard took place during the mutinies of Pannonia and the mutinies of Germania. Drusus Julius Caesar, son of Tiberius, accompanied by two Praetorian cohorts, the Praetorian Cavalry, and Imperial German Bodyguards, suppressed the mutinies of Pannonia. Germanicus, later known as Germanicus Julius Caesar, led a force of legions and detachments of the Praetorian Guard in a two-year campaign in Germania against the uprising.

In the three centuries that followed, the guard influenced imperial politics by overthrowing emperors and proclaiming the successor. Members of the guard were also directly involved in the assassination of emperors, such as: Aurelian, Balbinus, Caligula, Caracalla, Commodus, Elagabalus, Galba, Pupienus, Pertinax, Philip II, and Probus.

In AD 305, Diocletian and Maximian abdicated, and the former Caesares, Constantius and Galerius became Augusti. Although two sons of emperors, Constantine I and Maxentius were eligible, they were passed over for a new tetrarchy, and Valerius Severus and Maximinus Daza were appointed Caesars.

Severus planned to disband the Praetorian Guard on the orders of Galerius, resulting in the guard giving their allegiance to Maxentius and proclaiming him emperor. By AD 312, Constantine I marched on Rome with a force of 40,000 soldiers to eliminate Maxentius, facing off against an army that encompassed the bulk of the Praetorian Guard garrisoned in Rome at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge on the River Tiber.

Contemporary accounts record Maxentius’s forces being pushed back against the river and retreating across the bridge. The weight of soldiers fleeing caused the bridge to collapse, stranding elements of the guard on the northern bank of the river who were either killed or taken prisoner.

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus, a Christian author and advisor to Constantine recorded the events: “The bridge in his rear was broken down. At sight of that the battle grew hotter. The hand of the Lord prevailed, and the forces of Maxentius were routed. He fled towards the broken bridge; but the multitude pressing on him, he was driven headlong into the Tiber [drowned].”

Maxentius’ body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets of Rome. Supporters of Maxentius were eliminated and the Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard were disbanded. The remaining guard were sent in exile to the corners of the empire, and the Castra Praetoria was dismantled in a grand gesture that marked the end of the Praetorians.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.27 (after 1970)

1974 – 109 people are killed in a plane crash near Pulkovo Airport. 1976 – Thirty-seven people are killed when American Airlines Flight 625 crashes at Cyril E. King Airport in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. 1978 – John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes. 1978 – The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. 1978 – Willow Island disaster: In the deadliest construction accident in United States history, 51 construction workers are killed when a cooling tower under construction collapses at the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island, West Virginia. 1986 – The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster. 1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. 1989 – The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. 1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed. 1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history. 1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. 1993 – Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal. 1994 – South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force. 2005 – Airbus A380 aircraft has its maiden test flight. 2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City. 2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia. 2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem. 2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more. 2012 – At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured. 2018 – The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.

[cooganbegs-blog]

Proposed sale of business and assets

Thank you for your continuing support of TY.

In the aftermath of COVID, the Company raised a convertible note in May 2022 to fund the business to enter the US market. The intention was to demonstrate traction in the US growing season to support a Series B capital raise in late 2023.  

The planned raise did not prove possible and at the time the Company informed shareholders that the capital markets were very challenging, a situation made worse in the US with the collapse of Silicon Valley and First Republic Banks.

Investors remain risk averse and valuations are constrained. Investors are prioritising profitable companies rather than potential growth companies. The Yield which has material ongoing investment requirements to further develop its platform technology and operates in an industry where adoption has proved slow for a variety of reasons.

TY revenue growth has been adversely affected by the difficult weather conditions faced by the industry in Australia and New Zealand over the last couple of years and slower than expected traction in the US. La Nina caused widescale flooding across eastern Australia in 2022 which negatively affected specialty crop producers. In response to this, the Company made a decision to focus on the NZ market whilst Australia recovered, only to then have the entire Hawkes Bay area wiped out by a cyclone. The impact on growers and the community has been devastating. This resulted in key contracts under negotiation being put on hold while the industry focused on recovery.

As a result, the business has experienced difficulties  in achieving sales targets. In specialty crops the impact of inflation has also both depressed demand for their produce as well as driven up input costs.

In 2023 TY Board consulted major shareholders having failed in its attempts to raise capital. At the time the best option to enable the company to continue was to accept a further convertible note from YAM. Since that time the Company has made progress with its technology and has built a presence in the US market but revenue has not materialised at the expected rate.

The Board has been in active discussions with large Shareholders to determine at path forward in the current difficult circumstances. In addition, the Board sought advice from firms specialising in capital raising in both Australia and US on alternative options to finance the business, none of which proved successful.

Following discussions, the Board received an offer from YAM to acquire the assets of TY. Whilst the Board’s preferred approach was to sell the company and potentially enable shareholders to continue to maintain an interest in the business, YAM’s strategy is to acquire the assets and include TY technology in its global agriculture platform.

The Board commissioned Leadenhall to undertake an independent valuation of the business and Leadenhall valued the business between $17 – $30 million with a recommended range of $25 – $30 million.  The YAMoffer values the Company’s assets at $27M which is the higher end of the range and matches the cap in the 2023 Convertible Notes.

The Board retained Grant Thornton to conduct an analysis of the financial alternatives available and the conclusion was that the YAM offer was the best outcome for shareholders, creditors, employees and customers, compared to the alternative of placing the company into voluntary administration.

After due considerations by the Board of the options available to the Company, on 30th  April 2024 the Company signed a conditional Asset Purchase Agreement (Asset Purchase Agreement or APA) with entities associated with YAM (Purchasers), under which the Company agreed to sell to the Purchasers the business and assets of the Company (other than certain excluded assets which will be retained by the Company (Excluded Assets)), subject to certain conditions being satisfied (including obtaining the requisite shareholder approval) (Proposed Transaction).

A summary of the key terms of the Asset Purchase Agreement is set out in Attachment 1.

The purchase price payable by the Purchasers for the business and assets under the Proposed Transaction is A$27,000,000 (Purchase Price), which will be satisfied as follows:

* each of YAM (YAM Noteholders), accept the transfer of such business and assets to the Purchasers in satisfaction of YAM rights to receive a redemption payment under their convertible notes (this will be approximately A$23,975,509 as at 30 June 2024) (YAM Redemption Amount); and
 

* the remaining amount of the Purchase Price less the YAM Redemption Amount will be paid in cash to the Company at Completion.

Under the Proposed Transaction, on completion of the Asset Purchase Agreement (Completion) the Company will pay the other holders of Notes (i..e excluding the YAM Noteholders) (Minority Noteholders) a redemption payment equal to the principal plus interest on those Notes up to the proposed Completion date. The Company will then use the Excluded Assets, to cover certain remaining liabilities of the Company which are not assumed by the Purchasers as part of the Proposed Transaction (Excluded Liabilities). To the extent that the Excluded Assets are insufficient to cover the Excluded Liabilities and other post-Completion liabilities of the Company, the Purchasers have agreed to cover such liabilities up to an amount of A$1,000,000.

It is contemplated that shortly after Completion, the Company will be wound up by way of a members’ voluntary liquidation. We expect a small distribution to shareholders in accordance with the preference waterfall. This likely means only A3 shareholders will receive any return.

Having considered the current circumstances of the Company and the lack of other viable options in a difficult economic environment, the Directors are of the opinion that the Proposed Transaction is in the best interests of the Company as a whole as:

(a)  it would allow the business of the Company to continue to be operated under the ownership of the Purchasers;

(b)  under the APA, one of the Purchasers will agree to make offers of employment to substantially all of the employees of the Company;

(c)  as part of the Proposed Transaction, YAM will agree that the transfer of the business and assets to the Purchasers will be in full satisfaction of YAM rights to receive redemption payments that they would otherwise be entitled to upon Completion occurring, and YAM would waive any other right of payment under the Note Deed Polls;

(d)  the purchase price for the sale of the business and assets to the Purchasers have been negotiated on arm’s length terms and based on an independent valuation and the valuation cap;

(e)  the purchase price would include a payment of approximately $3 million by the Purchasers to the Company at Completion of the APA with an expected small distribution to shareholders;

(f)  following Completion, the Company would be able to be wound up in an orderly manner.

Following below is a summary of the key terms of the Asset Purchase Agreement.

Shareholder Approval Provided

Under the Shareholders Deed (clause 6.3.1), the Company must not effect, or authorise or approve, the sale, transfer or other disposition of all or substantially all of the Company's and its subsidiaries’ assets or intellectual property, taken as a whole, by means of any transaction or series of related transactions (except to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company), without the written approval of the holders of a minimum of 65% of the Series A3 Preference Shares on issue.

The assets proposed to be sold by the Company to YAM under the Asset Purchase Agreement comprise substantially all of the Company’s assets and intellectual property, taken as a whole.

Accordingly, the Company sought and received the approval of the holders of a minimum of 65% of the Series A3 Preference Shares on issue to the Proposed Transaction for the purpose of clause 6.3.1 of the Shareholders Deed. There is no other approval required from other shareholders for the Proposed Transaction.

Next steps

TY and YAM are working through the various conditions precedent to close the deal. We expect that will happen no later than the 30th June 2024. Once the assets are transferred TY will be wound up via a Members Voluntary Liquidation. You will be notified once Completion of the Proposed Transaction has occurred, and your approval (as required by the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)) for the Members Voluntary Liquidation will be sought at that time.

(Names changed, you can never be too sure)

[herunswithscissors]

We should be concerned about the parallels between the Roman Empire and the American Empire.

Just FYI it is impossible to talk about Rome without focusing on it's politics, economics, and religion. Politics, economics, and religion are major movers and shakers of history. We need to talk about those things. We just need to learn how to talk about them without trying to argue each other into submission.

-The Roman Empire waged constant war to occupy or force "peace treaties" as much of the world outside of Rome as possible, creating a Roman military-industrial complex that supported Roman merchants.

-They did this while a republic-governed empire in the hundreds of years BCE and as an autocrat-governed empire in the hundreds of years in CE.

-The occupation of weak countries or "protection" provided to less-than-voluntary wealthy allies throughout the known world allowed the merchants of Rome to do business far more easily and they made bank.

-All roads lead to Rome because they built roads to quickly transport their troops and merchant goods between Rome and the occupied world

-The other reason for constant wars of expansion with permanent occupation/oppression was taxation on the poor, "unimportant", and invisible people of other nations who the Roman public didn't care about because rhetoric was mastered by the Roman elite. Plus they didn't have to see it and it lowered their taxes and paid for their aqueducts and cushy lifestyle so they didn't really question the rhetoric.

-This is why the story of Christmas starts with a census. Palestine was occupied by Rome and was being taxed to death (poverty causes death).

-Jesus was executed by Rome for teaching people in occupied Palestine a liberating theology of how to live with dignity under oppression and how to live a life of love within a religion without fundamentalism. He was murdered by the aristocracy and religious elite who whipped up the fundamentalists and got the Empire to do what it did to anyone who disrupted their status quo and/or taught poor people how to live with dignity under their oppression. There is so much there to unpack.

-The rich got really really rich and really really greedy. They used their power in the senate and connections with the aristocracy/emperors to get their businesses subsidized and tax burden shifted to the common folk of Rome.

-The military expansion also provided an infinite number of slaves and the Roman homeland transitioned into a slave-based economy

-As the economy became top-heavy, wages had to compete with slavery, and tax burdens shifted to lower classes, the common folk of Rome became poorer and poorer to the point most of them became day-laborers.

-All the land in/around Rome was privately owned. The poor rented rooms in tenement buildings or lived on the street. Without access to land, agriculture, or kitchens commoners became dependent on buying pre-made food and government bread handouts.

-As the economy collapsed for the middle and working class the rich kept the commoners distracted with sports and religion

-Around 300CE, when poverty was at a breaking point, the empire on the edge of collapse, the Empire nailed Jesus back onto the cross, "converted" and used their mastery of rhetoric to subvert the teachings of Jesus with cherry-picked religious writings like those of the Pharisee Paul who had been trying to shoehorn Jesus into his ultra-fundamentalist form of Judaism in the first few years after Jesus.

-The Roman aristocracy created a safe, atonement-focused theology all about sin and a cushy afterlife (and obedience), purged of Jesus' liberating theology focused on love and freedom. They called that Christianity.

-They used Empire-Christianity to unite their people to keep doing empire shit for a good while longer by exploiting the religious fervor of the commoners and using theocratic rule via the Empire's aristocratic church leadership.

-The tribal nations of Europe and Asia took advantage of the growing weakness to rebel and free themselves from occupation. They had fought the original occupation (see Vicingtorix) but now had a real chance with the Empire's governance focused on keeping their own people under control. This is where the various sackings of Rome occurred.

-Many of the warlords of Europe and eastern Asia thought the Empire's invented religion was a pretty good tool and adopted it as well. And made very effective use of it for the next 1500 years or so with their own brands of aristocracy, empire, and colonization.

-No major Christian reformation (even the Protestant one) ever rejected the basic premises of the Roman Empire's atonement theology or embraced the liberating teachings of Jesus in any meaningful way. (Anabaptists tried focusing on parts of the liberation, but got caught up in fundamentalism and still held onto atonement)

(BTW, Liberation theology was re-created/discovered by enslaved Africans and continues to be practiced by many of the world's oppressed including denominations of Black Christians and most Catholic South American Christians (alongside those still enslaved by the Empire-religion). It is being adopted more and more internationally, and here in the USA by "liberal" White Christians too. Of course the people with the empire-approved religion denounce it as heresy and persecute wherever they can.)

-Empire-Christianity was the religion of the founders of USA. And they used it as their spiritual fathers did. To conquer, oppress, enslave, and create a merchant-supporting military industrial complex that turns a good world into a hellscape for anyone not one of them. While we all shout FREEDOM! and wave the flag.

So here we are today with leftovers of the Roman Empire's religion in the hands of fundamentalists aligned with Aristocracy and Empire who run a military industrial complex and enforce cultural hegemony with decorative diversity. With an economy that is slave-based and top-heavy. (With all land/resources/food/medicine/communication privatized, we are all basically slaves- it's just some of us have more choice in who our masters will be and can negotiate the terms of our slavery. For the rest of us it's minimum wage and government slave subsides.)

The rest of us yearn for actual freedom and actual peace and actual reconciliation with all the neighbors our empire/religion has turned into our enemies.

[starwarsweaponssystems]

A guide to galactic ships: TIE fighter

Due to recent supply chain issues and the destruction of the first Death Star,

and the second Death Star,

along with the destruction of Alderaan,

buying a ship isn’t nearly as easy and as cheap as it used to be. Heck, back in my day, you used to be able to get a Z-95 Headhunter for well under the MSRP’s sticker price and the dealer would still throw in an extra deflector shield and some proton torpedoes to sweeten the deal. I actually fondly remember the government used to have a scheme called “Credits for Junkers” which paid people to actually trade in their old rocket propulsion starships for the new and more clean and environmentally friendly ion-engine-powered starships. So now most of us aren’t thinking about buying our dream starship, we’re being more careful and pragmatic without economic choices. In economic times like this, it’s all about finding a good economical starship that has good resale value. This way when you decide to sell or upgrade your starfighter, you can minimize your loss. So we’ll be taking a look at the TIE fighter.

You guys know that I would never take a standard TIE into a dogfight. I hate the solar panel design that gives you massive blindspots, the lack of shields, hyperdrive, and heck, there isn’t even life support on this thing. But when it comes to resale value, it’s not always about performance, instead, you have to look at the market and what individuals are willing to buy and the TIE fighter has a lot of really good features that might attract your more budget buyers You see, TIE fighters are relatively cheap, to begin with at around 60,000 credits each and at around 25,000 credits used so they won’t really break the bank when you purchase one. There are some reasons why the TIE fighter is an extremely smart buy from a resale point of view. First of all, it was one of the mass-produced starfighters in galactic history.

While other starfighters focus more on performance and features, the designers of the TIE fighter first focused on the manufacturing process and how to build things cheaply. The TIE fighter is an engineering marvel, it has no moving parts and it has a very low maintenance cost. The point is the TIE fighter was extremely reliable and well-built. Sure it was fragile even when compared to an A-wing, but you could still keep a TIE fighter running even decades after the empire collapsed and they stopped manufacturing parts for them. When the New Republic arose, so did a new market for old TIE fighters. You see, you had the centrist faction in the government, they basically supported stronger feral control over the galaxy and they have a really unhealthy nostalgia for Imperial memorabilia so a full-on TIE fighter would fetch you top dollar. So remember guys, resale is all about demand, and with this in mind, I’m sure you’ll be rich in no time.

[tumovs]

Visualizing the Assets and Liabilities of U.S. Banks

The U.S. banking sector has more than 4,000 #FDIC-insured banks that play a crucial role in the country’s #economy by securely storing deposits and providing credit in the form of loans.

This infographic visualizes all of the deposits, loans, and other assets and liabilities that make up the collective balance sheet of U.S banks using data from the Federal Reserve.

With the spotlight on the #banking sector after the collapses of Signature Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and First Republic bank, understanding the assets and liabilities that make up banks’ balance sheets can give insight in how they operate and why they sometimes fail…

[mariacallous]

Editor's Note: This article was originally published by The Washington Post on May 3, 2023.

Ancient Greek philosophy had a concept telos which meant one true north star. For the Federal Reserve, telos is monetary policy — not bank regulation. That’s why expecting the Fed to become a great bank regulator is a mistake.

It makes more sense to take bank regulation away from the Fed and give it to an agency that will make it their telos.

Evidence of this problem is clear in the Fed’s April report on its failing as a bank regulator in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. SVB took massive bets that interest rates would remain low. A strong regulator would have required SVB to hedge those risks. Hedging costs money and that would have reduced the bank’s profits and its management bonus pool. But it would have protected the bank when interest rates rose.

One would think the Fed would have been most attuned to the possibility of interest rates rising, as they set rates. But the Fed stopped including interest rate increases in their stress tests of banks similar to SVB in 2015 and didn’t require the bank to hedge.

The deeper problem, though, is that regulation is just not the Fed’s top priority. The SVB report lists the Fed’s five key functions: Monetary policy is listed first. Regulation of individual banks clocks in third, below the Fed’s role in protecting financial stability, and above its role in operating and regulating payment systems. Little wonder First Republic, another massive bank, failed this week.

Read the rest of the article via The Washington Post.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Canada mulls expelling China diplomat for targeting lawmaker (AP) Canada’s foreign minister said Thursday the country is considering the expulsion of Chinese diplomats over an intelligence agency report saying one of them plotted to intimidate the Hong Kong relatives of a Canadian lawmaker. Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said her department was summoning China’s ambassador to a meeting to underline that Canada won’t tolerate such interference. She said the intelligence agency report indicated that opposition Conservative lawmaker Michael Chong and his Hong Kong relatives were targeted after Chong criticized Beijing’s human rights record. “We’re assessing different options including the expulsion of diplomats,” Joly said before a Parliament committee. Many governments, the United Nations, and human rights groups accuse China of sweeping a million or more people from its Uyghur community and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minority groups into detention camps, where many have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion. China denies the accusations, which are based on evidence including interviews with survivors and photos and satellite images from Uyghur’s home province of Xinjiang, a major hub for factories and farms in far western China.

Smaller Banks Are Scrambling as Share Prices Plunge (NYT) A cluster of regional banks scrambled on Thursday to convince the public of their financial soundness, even as their stock prices plunged and investors took bets on which might be the next to fall. The tumult brought questions about the future of the lenders to the fore, suggesting a new phase in the crisis that began two months ago with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, and was punctuated on Monday by the seizure and sale of First Republic Bank. PacWest and Western Alliance were in the eye of the storm, despite the companies’ protestations that their finances were solid. PacWest’s shares lost 50 percent of their value on Thursday and Western Alliance fell 38 percent. Other midsize banks, including Zions and Comerica, also posted double-digit percentage declines. Unlike the banks that failed after depositors rushed to pull their money out, the lenders now under pressure have reported relatively stable deposit bases and don’t sit on mountains of soured loans. The most immediate threat the banks face, analysts said, is a crisis of confidence.

Oil boom starts to transform Guyana (AP) Villagers in this tiny coastal community lined up on the soggy grass, leaned into the microphone and shared what they wanted: a library, streetlights, school buses, homes, a grocery store, reliable electricity, wider roads and better bridges. “Please help us,” said Evadne Pellew-Fomundam—a 70-year-old who lives in Ann’s Grove, one of Guyana’s poorest communities—to the country’s prime minister and other officials who organized the meeting to hear people’s concerns and boost their party’s image ahead of municipal elections. The list of needs is long in this South American country of 791,000 people that is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest offshore oil producer, placing it ahead of Qatar, the United States, Mexico and Norway. The oil boom will generate billions of dollars for this largely impoverished nation. It’s also certain to spark bitter fights over how the wealth should be spent in a place where politics is sharply divided along ethnic lines: 29% of the population is of African descent and 40% of East Indian descent, from indentured servants brought to Guyana after slavery was abolished. Change is already visible. In the capital, Georgetown, buildings made of glass, steel and concrete rise above colonial-era wooden structures, with shuttered sash windows, that are slowly decaying.

Beyond King Charles (Washington Post) Though the British monarchy attracts the most global attention, there are wealthier, more powerful royals among the 28 monarchs around the world. Seventeen of them are kings. Margrethe II of Denmark is the only queen. The microstate of Andorra has co-princes, the president of France and a Spanish bishop. Japan has an emperor. Brunei and Oman have sultans. Liechtenstein and Monaco have princes. Qatar and Kuwait have emirs. Luxembourg has a grand duke. And the United Arab Emirates has a president, though he is a monarch. Although Charles is estimated to have a personal net worth between $750 million and $1.44 billion, others far surpass him. Leaders in Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Brunei are estimated to be worth well over $10 billion.

Italian foreign minister calls off Paris trip after French ‘insults’ (Reuters) Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called off a trip to Paris on Thursday, saying the French interior minister had offended Italy and its Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with unacceptable “insults”. Earlier, the French minister, Gerald Darmanin, told RMC radio that Meloni was “unable to solve the migration problems on which she was elected” and accused her of “lying” to voters that she could end a crisis over growing numbers of boat migrants. News of his comments came as Tajani was preparing to fly to Paris to see his French counterpart—a trip that was aimed partly at improving relations between the two European Union countries that have grown increasingly brittle. France swiftly issued a statement in which it sought to reassure Rome of its willingness to work closely with Italy, but it was not enough to persuade Tajani to catch his plane. It was the latest in a series of clashes between Paris and Rome since Meloni took office last October at the head of a nationalist, conservative government which has a very different world vision to that of French President Emmanuel Macron.

Kremlin accuses Washington of directing drone attack on Putin (Washington Post) The Kremlin spokesman on Thursday accused the United States of ordering what Moscow alleges was an assassination attempt on President Vladimir Putin with two drones that were sent to attack the Russian president’s official residence. “We know very well that decisions about such actions, about such terrorist attacks, are made not in Kyiv, but in Washington, and Kyiv does what it is told,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday. John Kirby, the spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said Peskov “is just lying.”

Russian mercenary chief Prigozhin says his forces will leave Bakhmut next week (Reuters) Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary force, said in a sudden and dramatic announcement on Friday that his forces would leave the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut that they have been trying to capture since last summer. Prigozhin said they would pull back on May 10—ending their involvement in the longest and bloodiest battle of the war—because of heavy losses and inadequate ammunition supplies. He asked defence chiefs to insert regular army troops in their place. “I’m pulling Wagner units out of Bakhmut because in the absence of ammunition they’re doomed to perish senselessly,” Prigozhin said in a statement. Prigozhin has vented increasing anger at what he describes as lack of support from the Russian defence establishment. Earlier on Friday he appeared in a video surrounded by dozens of corpses he said were Wagner fighters, and yelling and swearing at Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov. He said they were to blame for Wagner’s losses because they had starved it of ammunition.

Earthquake-Proof, Not Corruption-Proof: Turkey’s Needless Deaths (NYT) The building began convulsing at 4:17 a.m. Firat Yayla was awake in bed, scrolling through videos on his phone. His mother was asleep down the hall. The region along Turkey’s border with Syria was known for earthquakes, but this apartment complex was new, built to withstand disaster. It was called Guclu Bahce, or Mighty Garden. Mr. Yayla’s own cousin had helped build it. He and his business partner had boasted that the complex could withstand even the most powerful tremor. So, as the earth heaved for more than a minute, Mr. Yayla, 21, and his 62-year-old mother, Sohret Guclu, a retired schoolteacher, remained inside. At that very moment, though, Mr. Yayla’s cousin, the developer, was leaping for safety from a second-story balcony. What Mr. Yayla and his mother had not known was that the system to ensure that buildings were safely constructed to code had been tainted by money and politics. A developer won zoning approval for the project after donating more than $200,000 to a local soccer club, where the mayor is an honorary president. The building inspector said that, even after the project had failed its inspection, the developers used political influence to get the doors open. The Feb. 6 earthquake revealed the shaky foundation on which so much growth was built. More than 50,000 people died as buildings toppled, crumbled or pancaked. Guclu Bahce, the mighty earthquake-proof complex, was among them. An estimated 65 people died there.

8 Are Dead in Shooting in Serbia, a Day After School Massacre (NYT) The Serbian police arrested a suspect early Friday after an hourslong overnight manhunt for a gunman who killed eight people and injured at least 14 others near Belgrade, according to Serbia’s Interior Ministry. The attack late Thursday was the nation’s second mass shooting in two days and rattled a country still reeling from an attack at a school that killed eight students and a security guard. Hundreds of police officers had gone door to door in the search for a 21-year-old male suspect, according to RTS, Serbia’s public broadcaster. They deployed helicopters and surrounded the area where they believed he was hiding, the report said. The gunman, who was in a moving vehicle, used an automatic weapon and fled the scene, according to RTS, which said the attack took place around Mladenovac, a municipality in the southern part of the capital, Belgrade.

Press group: China biggest global jailer of journalists (AP) China was the biggest global jailer of journalists last year with more than 100 behind bars, according to a press freedom group, as President Xi Jinping’s government tightened control over society. Xi’s government also was one of the biggest exporters of propaganda content, according to Reporters without Boarders. China ranked second to last on the group’s annual index of press freedom, behind only neighbor North Korea. The ruling Communist Party has tightened already strict controls on media in China, where all newspapers and broadcasters are state-owned. Websites and social media are required to enforce censorship that bans material that might spread opposition to one-party rule.

Israelis call out perks for ultra-Orthodox in latest protests (Washington Post) Israel’s protest movement, having forced the government to pause its attempt to overhaul the national judiciary system, pivoted to other targets in demonstrations across the country Thursday, including the exemption from military service and other special privileges long granted to the growing ultra-Orthodox community. Thousands marched for a “Day of Disruption to Demand Equality” focused on the unequal burdens of citizenship and status of the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim as they are known in Israel. Ultra-Orthodox citizens are largely shielded from the country’s mandatory draft and educational standards and their families benefit from heavy public subsidies that allow boys and men to devote years to religious study instead of working and paying taxes in the mainstream economy. Demonstrators blocked roads, lined bridges and picketed the homes of cabinet members. While many still chanted against the judicial overhaul, which some ministers are seeking to revive, most focused on other concerns, including spiking inflation and rising crime. The anger against the special status of the Haredi has long been a dynamic in Israeli politics, but it has grown more intense as the community has ballooned to roughly 13 percent of Israel’s total population, making them the country’s fastest growing demographic.

Fighting rages in Khartoum, civilians complain of being forgotten (Reuters) Heavy gunfire echoed around Khartoum again on Friday as civilians trapped by fighting in the Sudanese capital said the army and rival paramilitary forces were ignoring their plight. “It’s been four days without electricity and our situation is difficult... We are the victims of a war that we aren’t a part of. No one cares about the citizen,” said Othman Hassan, 48, a resident of the southern outskirts of Khartoum. Despite multiple ceasefire declarations, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) appeared to be battling each other for control of territory in the capital ahead of proposed talks. The sudden collapse into warfare has killed hundreds, triggered a humanitarian disaster, sent an exodus of refugees to neighbouring states and risks dragging in outside powers, further destabilising an already restive region.

[warningsine]

Government regulators seized and sold off First Republic Bank on Monday, making it the third bank to fail this year after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed in March.

The three banks held a total of $532 billion in assets. That’s more than the $526 billion, when adjusted for inflation, held by the 25 banks that collapsed in 2008 at the height of the global financial crisis.

The implosion of Washington Mutual that year, as well as the investment banks Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, was followed by failures throughout the banking system. From 2008 to 2015, more than 500 federally insured banks failed.

Most were small or midsize regional banks and were absorbed into other institutions, a common outcome for banks that have been put under government control. Washington Mutual, which was heavily involved in risky mortgages and became the largest bank to fail in U.S. history, was sold to JPMorgan Chase.

In recent years, fewer banks have gone under, thanks in part to stricter regulations that were put in place in the wake of the financial crisis. Before Silicon Valley Bank, the last bank to fail was in late 2020, as the coronavirus was ravaging the country.

The collapse of Silicon Valley and Signature Bank in March led to fears of fallout for the broader industry. Higher interest rates have eroded the value of assets on banks’ balance sheets, stressing the financial system and making it harder for banks to pay back depositors if they decided to withdraw their money.

First Republic received a temporary $30 billion infusion from the nation’s biggest banks in March as a way to restore clients’ confidence. But customers pulled a staggering $102 billion in customer deposits over the first quarter of this year, according to the bank’s quarterly earnings report filed on Monday.

By the close of trading on Friday, the company’s stock price had dropped more than 75 percent this week.

Similar to Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic had many start-up industry clients, and many of its accounts held more than $250,000, the amount covered by federal insurance.

The regulations put in place for the nation’s biggest banks after the financial crisis include stringent capital requirements, which means they must have a certain amount of reserves for moments of crisis, as well as stipulations about how diversified their businesses must be.

But midsize banks like First Republic, Silicon Valley and Signature do not have the same regulatory oversight. In 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed a law that lessened scrutiny for many regional banks. Silicon Valley Bank’s chief executive, Greg Becker, was a strong supporter of the move. Among other things, the law changed requirements for the amount of cash that these banks had to keep on their balance sheets to protect against shocks.

In a review of the Fed’s oversight of Silicon Valley Bank released on Friday, Michael S. Barr, the central bank’s vice chair for supervision, said the Fed would “re-evaluate” its rules for banks that were similar in size to Silicon Valley Bank.

Mr. Barr called the bank’s failure a “textbook case of mismanagement.” But he faulted Fed supervisors, too, for not understanding the extent of the bank’s vulnerabilities, and for failing to take decisive action when they did identify problems.

He also noted the real threat of contagion from Silicon Valley Bank. “A firm’s distress may have systemic consequences through contagion — where concerns about one firm spread to other firms — even if the firm is not extremely large, highly connected to other financial counterparties, or involved in critical financial services,” he wrote.