One year after SVB collapse, updates on the 5 bank failures of 2023

Shan Hanes, the former CEO of the failed Heartland Tri-State Bank, was indicted in February in U.S. District Court on charges of embezzling $47.1 million from the Elkhart, Kansas-based lender before its collapse in July. Federal prosecutors allege that he took money from a local church and a local investment club and funneled it into cryptocurrency investments for his "personal benefit."

The charges against Hanes were widely anticipated. In August, Kansas Banking Commissioner David Herndon told American Banker that a federal investigation was underway and that Heartland Tri-State "fell victim to a scam." Herndon also said the failure was a "very sudden" event and unrelated to the failures of the much larger Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank earlier in 2023.

Read more: Ex-CEO of failed Kansas bank charged with embezzling $47 million

Former Trump administration officials Steven Mnuchin and Joseph Otting are part of an investment group that's providing $1 billion of capital in an effort to rescue the beleaguered New York Community Bancorp, which in March 2023 acquired large chunks of the failed Signature Bank.

Otting, a former comptroller of the currency, will become the bank's CEO, while Mnuchin, the former Treasury secretary, will join its board, the company said on March 6. Mnuchin's investment firm, Liberty Strategic Capital, is leading the deal by pumping in $450 million, while the investment firm Hudson Bay will invest $250 million, and Reverence Capital will provide $200 million.

A massive concentration in real estate loans continues to be an albatross, posing the risk that more capital could be needed to shore up the Long Island bank's balance sheet. But analysts have thus far been mostly optimistic that the duo of Otting and former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin can succeed.

Read more: New York Community lands $1B capital infusion led by Mnuchin, Otting

First Citizens continues to retain and win back some of Silicon Valley Bank's former customers and stabilize its deposit base after acquiring a significant portion of the failed bank in March 2023, but the organization still faces "headwinds" in its growth.

First Citizens is "very encouraged" about this year, but Marc Cadieux, president of Silicon Valley Bank's commercial banking business, acknowledged challenges.

"The innovation economy continues to go through … its own downturn," Cadieux said during a fourth-quarter earnings call. "We expect that's going to continue in 2024. So our intention is to keep doing what we were doing in 2023 and hoping that 2025 and ahead [are] better."

Read more: First Citizens is retaining SVB clients, but cites 'headwinds' to growth