What’s Behind the Turmoil at New York Community Bank? (2024)

Shares of New York Community Bank slid more than 25 percent on Friday, a day after the lender said its loss in the fourth quarter was $2.4 billion more than it had previously reported, and also announced the departure of its chief executive and a board member.

Shares of other regional banks were also lower: Valley National Bank and Columbia Banking System both fell more than 2 percent. The KBW Regional Bank Index, which tracks performance of U.S. regional banks, fell more than 1 percent.

The drop in shares of other banks is a sign investors are still nervous about the potential for wider trouble in the banking sector — nearly a year after several small banks failed. But the fact that the declines in other regional banks were small suggested that NYCB’s problems are seen as unique to it.

“The market is made nervous because of what we lived through last year,” said Christopher Marinac, an analyst and director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott, a financial services firm.

What put NYCB at risk?

NYCB had appeared to be one of the winners of last year’s regional banking crisis, after it acquired most of the assets to Signature Bank, which collapsed, along with Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank.

The acquisition helped NYCB’s grow to more than $100 billion in assets, but it also subjected it to more regulatory scrutiny, which meant it had to increase its reserves, and quickly.