(New York) US regulators have asked several financial institutions to submit an offer to buy the assets of the First Republic bank, which has been in turmoil since mid-March, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.

Between four and six of them should do it, added this source.

First Republic has been under heavy pressure since the close bankruptcies of two banks with a similar profile in early March.

But the bank failed to come up with a satisfactory rescue plan and when it confirmed late Monday that many customers withdrew deposits in the first quarter, more than $100 billion in total, its stock was already in bad shape. , nosedive.

The authorities finally stepped up.

The agency in charge of guaranteeing bank deposits (FDIC) and the Department of the Economy asked several banks in the middle of the week to gauge their interest, the source told AFP.

On Friday, they gave a handful of them access to more financial information on First Republic, she added.

The FDIC did not wish to comment or confirm this information, while the American central bank (Fed) and the Department of the Economy did not respond to requests from AFP.

First Republic said it had no comment.

According to several American media, the FDIC would initially take control of First Republic.

Based on the amount of assets (233 billion dollars at the end of March), it would be the second largest bank failure in the history of the United States (excluding investment banks like Lehman Brothers) after that of Washington. Mutual in September 2008, ahead of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in March.

The FDIC would then quickly sell some or all of the bank’s assets to another institution.

According to CNBC, if the deal goes through this way, it could be announced early Monday to avoid too much disruption for First Republic customers.