Analysis: Troubled First Republic Bank Spent At Least $250K Lobbying to Weaken Dodd-Frank in 2018, Then Awarded $2.1M to Republican Campaigns

A review from government watchdog Accountable.US found First Republic Bank — which spiraled into instability after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed Friday — spent at least $250,000 lobbying Congress to water down Dodd-Frank’s reforms that include risk-assessment measures for banks in 2018, while the bank’s founder has donated over $2.1 million to Republican campaigns since the regulatory rollback. A chorus of experts agree that gutting these safeguards more than likely fueled the current instability crisis among midsize banks. Like Silicon Valley Bank, First Republic Bank pushed lawmakers to go lax on banking oversight in 2018 and got their way from Republicans in Congress, including current House Financial Services Chairman Patrick McHenry, who is deep in the pocket of the financial industry.