Regional Bank Stocks Are Taking A Beating Thursday: What's Going On?

Several regional bank stocks are moving lower Thursday after New York Community Bancorp Inc NYCB reported weak financial results and reduced its quarterly dividend, raising concerns about the current state of the banking sector.

What To Know: New York Community Bancorp missed analyst estimates on both the top and bottom line when it reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday.

The bank holding company said it’s still adjusting to the demands of being a large bank after it was selected by the FDIC to purchase certain assets and liabilities of Signature Bank following its collapse. Signature Bank was one of three U.S. banks that collapsed last year as part of a banking crisis that was spurred by a rapid increase in interest rates. 

Related Link: New York Community Bancorp Analysts Cut Their Forecasts After Q4 Earnings

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF KRE is down more than 10% over the last two trading sessions, marking the sector’s biggest two-day decline since the banking crisis in March of last year.

As previously reported by Benzinga, regional banks are being scrutinized for having significant exposure to commercial real estate, which is under pressure as office space values trend lower. Trepp data showed that $2.77 trillion in commercial real estate debt is set to mature between 2023 and 2027, and close to $500 billion in commercial real estate debt will need to be refinanced this year.

New York Community Bancorp closed Wednesday down about 38% and the stock was down another 8.89% at the time of writing Thursday. Other regional bank stocks making big moves to the downside Thursday include Metropolitan Bank Holding Corp MCB, Western Alliance Bancorp WAL and Valley National Bancorp VLY. Metropolitan, Western Alliance and Valley National were all down between 5% and 10% at last check.

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons.