> "We, JPMorgan, are willing to bet $5bn that First Direct does not fail, with no upside to us if they do not" is a rather powerful statement. Is it though? A

> "We, JPMorgan, are willing to bet $5bn that First Direct does not fail, with no upside to us if they do not" is a rather powerful statement. Is it though? Although there's no upside, there's also little downside since deposits are at the top of the liquidation stack in the case of bankruptcy. The further up the liquidation stack your capital goes, the least risk you're taking. So, the biggest vote of confidence would be if big banks purchased First Republic equity. I would categorize offering FRC debt as a strong signal also (like JPM did). Offering FRC uninsured deposits is perhaps the weakest vote of confidence when it comes to transferring cash to FRC.