Investors in embattled New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) were taken for a wild ride on Wednesday after shares in the bank plummeted 42% before surging again after the announcement of a $1 billion lifeline from investors.
NYCB is an American regional bank with more than $100 billion in assets and is the bank that acquired the once crypto-friendly Signature Bank following its collapse in March 2023.
However, NYCB has seen a turbulent period after weaker-than-expected financial results in Q4, a reduction in quarterly dividends, and concerns over potential losses from poorly performing loans in the commercial real estate sector.
Stocks in NYCB tumbled more than 42% to $1.76 on March 6 before trading was halted, pending news.
Hours later, trading resumed, and shares began to surge after it announced a strategic equity investment of more than $1 billion, reportedly supposed to “restore investor confidence.”
Share prices jumped to $4 before falling to $3.40 in after-hours trading.
“With the over $1 billion of capital invested in the bank, we believe we now have sufficient capital should reserves need to be increased in the future to be consistent with or above the coverage ratio of NYCB's large bank peers,” said Steven Mnuchin, the former Treasury Secretary and new NYCB board member, who led the capital injection.
Fed banking bailout to end
NYCB’s rollercoaster of a day comes just a week before the Federal Reserve’s banking bail-out program is set to end on March 11.
The Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) was launched in March 2023 following several high-profile bank failures. Its aim was to make additional funding available to “eligible depository institutions” to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors.
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Since it launched, the U.S. central bank has dished out $164 billion to struggling banks, according to the St. Louis Fed.
Additionally, Bitcoin prices surged 40% in March 2023 when the BTFP was launched amid the U.S. banking crisis and the aftermath of the collapses of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.
On March 7, angel investor and author Balaji Srinivasan commented on the banking calamity, comparing it to the financial crisis of 2008 which was caused by banks.
“It’s just like 2008, where everyone was told the mortgage-backed securities were AAA. Except this time the new toxic waste is Treasuries themselves.”
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