Massachusetts regulators have opened an investigation into stock sales by top executives at First Republic Bank weeks before the recent bank failures.
Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin has subpoenaed First Republic seeking details about its insider trading policies and how officers handled their stock sales from Jan. 1.
Massachusetts regulators are also conducting a similar probe into the stock sales by executives at SVB Financial Group, the former parent company of Silicon Valley Bank.
- The global banking sector has been impacted by recent bank failures, raising contagion fears.
- Silvergate Capital Corp shut down its operations on March 8.
- Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were shut down by financial regulators on March 10 and March 12, respectively, amid liquidity crises.
- Corporate insiders are allowed to buy and sell shares of their companies; however, it is illegal for officers and directors to transact on material information that is not yet public.
