Jason Henry/Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) –The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the conduct of First Republic Bank executives before the government seizure and sale of the lender to JPMorgan Chase, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The SEC is looking into whether any members of the then-executive team of First Republic improperly traded on inside information, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the probe hasn’t been publicly disclosed.
It couldn’t immediately be determined which former executives are the focus of the inquiry. No one previously or currently at the bank has been accused of wrongdoing and the investigation could end without anyone being accused of misconduct.
Representatives for the SEC and JPMorgan declined to comment.
First Republic was seized by regulators and sold to JPMorgan on Monday in a government-led deal after a drama-filled weekend.
Separately, the SEC has been probing the trading activity of Silicon Valley Bank executives before its collapse in March, Bloomberg News has reported.
“That the SEC is looking into First Republic is no surprise,” said Richard Hong, a former SEC trial attorney who is now a partner at the firm Morrison Cohen in New York. “My expectation is that the SEC will be looking at a variety of issues regarding insider trading and disclosures.”
