Decades-high inflation, economic uncertainty, increased funding costs, compressing margins, heightened regulatory scrutiny, bank failures and a general decline in bank stock valuations have taken their toll as 2022 and 2023 were turbulent years for banks. Since March 2022, the federal funds rate has increased by 525 basis points—the sharpest increase in more than 40 years. In March 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a $209 billion asset bank, failed—the first of five bank failures that would kickstart a historic year for bank failures. However, while the bank failures of 2023 served as attention-grabbing headlines (First Republic Bank, SVB and Signature Bank rank as the second, third and fifth largest failures in U.S. history, respectively), the 2023 failures largely represented unique business models, while the overall strength of the industry prevented a wider problem.