First Republic aftershocks

Hello from the FT newsroom. This week began with the second-biggest bank failure in US history. San Francisco-based First Republic was shut down in the early hours of Monday morning, with JPMorgan Chase buying all $93.5bn of its deposits after a night of wrangling by Californian regulators and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It is the third US bank to fail in less than two months. But?what did the three failed banks — Silicon Valley Bank, Signature and First Republic — have in common?

The FT’s editorial board argued that First Republic was not obviously high risk, so?investors, boards and regulators need to become better at spotting danger.?While depositors were protected by this week’s deal,?investors are warning against complacency. With news this morning that fellow Californian bank PacWest is now exploring a potential sale,?stay up to date with the aftershocks at ft.com.

My choices this week?

1. Russian spies have obtained sensitive technology from EU companies, a fascinating new FT investigation has revealed. Highlighting the difficulties for western governments imposing sanctions, our reporters map the route of advanced EU tech to Russia’s military-industrial complex.
2. How could quantum computing break the internet??The commercial, and geopolitical, race is on to develop quantum technology that works. This brilliant visual explainer shows how it operates, the problems it could solve and the threat that it poses.?(Free to read)
3. When Fox News paid a record $787.5mn to settle a defamation case last month, documents revealed the stark reality of Fox’s relationship with facts and falsehoods. The FT’s chief economics commentator Martin Wolf sets out?what is at stake when democracies play with the truth, and why we must protect it.?(Free to read)
4. Due diligence in China is an increasingly risky — and necessary — business, with Beijing’s security forces growing more suspicious of corporate sleuths.?As the “men in black” crack down on foreign consultants, our reporters look at the impact for investment in China.
5. Local elections at a majority of English councils are under way today, in a race positioned as a prelude to a 2024 general election. As?Labour makes its bid to win back the “red wall”, voters seem less than enthused by the options.
6. “Are we growing ever number to ever-growing numbers?”?Employment columnist Sarah O’Connor asks how we should be grappling with the billions and trillions thrown around in public discourse. (If you’d like to read this piece for free, please?download our app FT Edit and click on the “Editions” button. FT Edit offers eight curated pieces every weekday and is free for the first 30 days, then 99p for six months.)

Thanks for reading,

Roula

PS?If you want the inside track on what matters in British politics, do sign up for Stephen Bush’s award-winning Inside Politics newsletter.?Follow this link?and you can get it free for 90 days.

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