Yesterday turned out to be a dramatic day for New York Community Bank as its stock nosedived by 42%, leading to a trading halt. The word around town was that this New York-based bank was on the lookout for a cash boost after a series of not-so-great performances. Sources close to the matter have revealed that the bank is in talks with potential investors to pour in some much-needed liquidity to get its balance sheet back on track.
The situation looked grim as NYCB’s shares faced multiple trading stops during the day’s trading session, with a staggering drop of over 40%. Earlier in the year, the bank’s stock was trading above the $10 mark but has since plummeted to just under $2. This year has been especially rough for NYCB, as shown by its decision at the end of January to increase the amount of money it sets aside for potential loan losses. To add salt to the wound, Moody’s Investors Service went ahead and slashed the bank’s credit rating down to junk status.
The financial trouble at NYCB has caught the attention of investors and market experts, who see similarities with what happened to Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank last spring. The banking industry is under a lot of stress because inflation is still high and no one knows when interest rates will start going down.
On the bright side, NYCB was able to recover from its sharp drop and announce that a group of investors would be putting a lot of money into the bank. The over $1 billion rescue comes from a group of investors led by Steven Mnuchin’s Liberty Strategic Capital. The other investors are Hudson Bay Capital and Reverence Capital Partners. This move has given people hope, and Mnuchin said that he thinks the bank now has enough capital to meet future reserve standards, with coverage rates that are on par with or better than those of its stronger peers.
As part of this plan to save the finances, Mnuchin and three other new people will join the board of directors of NYCB. In an interesting change of leadership, Joseph Otting, who used to be the Comptroller of the Currency, will become CEO. This comes after Alessandro DiNello was named to fill the same job for a short time.
NYCB’s problems became clear earlier this year when it reported weaker-than-expected results for the fourth quarter. This showed how vulnerable the bank is to the commercial real estate market, which is said to be on the verge of a default crisis. The bank had to set aside a huge $552 million for loan losses. For the quarter, co-op and office loans accounted for majority of the uncollectible bills, totaling $185 million.
Last year, three major banks, including Silicon Valley Bank, went bankrupt because the value of their bond stock dropped sharply due to bold rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. This ongoing fiasco at NYCB has brought back memories of that time.
In addition to its other problems, NYCB now has the assets of Signature Bank, which was also a bank that failed last spring. The acquisition has made things even more difficult for the institution because it is now being closely watched by regulators because it is bigger.
