Is the worst of the banking crisis over? It may seem a strange question to pose so shortly after the collapse of First Republic Bank, the second-largest such failure in U.S. history, but many industry experts say that its problems were unique to the once high-flying lender.Investors have also appeared to reach that view: As First Republic hurtled toward collapse, with its stock dropping precipitously, financial markets were far calmer than in mid-March, when the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank provoked a panic that engulfed the industry.First Republic was seized by regulators early Monday morning and sold to JPMorgan Chase. The S&P 500 stock index barely budged in trading, and JPMorgan’s shares gained about 2 percent. The declines in many smaller banks’ shares, which were shaken by the turmoil in March, were relatively muted.Echoing the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, First Republic collapsed after depositors and investors abandoned the institution, pulling their money and selling th …
