Cohn says First Republic sale ‘will be a much faster process’ than Silicon Valley Bank

Former Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn on Sunday said the anticipated sale of First Republic bank will be a “much faster process” than occurred in the case of Silicon Valley Bank. 

“What will most likely happen is the FDIC will seize control and then simultaneously resell the asset to the successful bidder. I think that will happen sometime later this afternoon before the markets open in Asia this evening,” Cohn said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” 

“It will be a much faster process” compared to what happened with Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed last month in the nation’s biggest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis, Cohn said.

Government regulators could reportedly seize and then sell First Republic bank as soon as Sunday. 

“Now, we’ve been going down this process for the last two weeks or so as First Republic continues to be under pressure and continues to lose deposits. Unfortunately, First Republic reported this week that they had a massive outflow of deposits over the last quarter,” Cohn said. 

New York Signature bank collapsed shortly after Silicon Valley, becoming the nation’s third-largest bank failure in its history. The government is now scrambling to quell concerns and lowered confidence in the banking system and prevent further crisis.

Cohn said that, at close of business on Friday, the FDIC was “in a process of looking for acquirers or bidders for the assets over the course of the weekend,” and he added that the FDIC “has asked potentially three banks for their final bids for the entire bank.”