New York | First Republic Bank is slashing its workforce, shrinking its balance sheet and pursuing strategic options after deposits plummeted even more than analysts expected during last month’s regional banking crisis.

Executives at the bank laid out plans for shoring up finances after customer deposits plunged 41 per cent to $US104.5 billion ($156 billion) in the first quarter, missing the $US137 billion average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The drop came even after the country’s largest lenders parked $US30 billion of their own cash with the San Francisco-based bank.

Bloomberg