Western Alliance Bank denied recently published claims that they were exploring the sale of parts or entirety of their business. Tip-off by two anonymous sources prompted this speculation, which provoked a steep decline in the bank’s stock value. Initial suggestion of a potential sale caused the shares of the Arizona-based bank to fall by 50%, further deepening as FT published the article and it's stock value reached 45%.

Western Alliance made immediate efforts to clear the rumors, issuing an official statement in response that “the story is absolutely false and there is no truth in it”. The bank was certain that JP Morgan’s takeover of First Republic Bank which preceded this controversy had no unexplained deposit outflows and in the period following, Western Alliance stated that there was no indication of this.

The Financial Times ran the story with no concrete evidence, which makes it hard to distinguish fact from fiction. Despite the fact that Western Alliance denied the rumors and ensured their investors of financial stableness, the news of FTC's article had a disconcerting effect on the stock value of the bank.

Little is known about the origin of these reports, but with no image indictment, the story is vigorously denied by the bank. Western Alliance affirmed that their financial stability has not been affected and that the dip in stock prices is only due to speculations and rumors, proving difficult to figure out what to make of the swirling speculation.



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