How is Brex supporting First Republic Bank customers?
Following the news regarding First Republic Bank, we’re doing everything we can to help those impacted by these events — Brex customers or otherwise. Here are some of the ways we’re supporting our First Republic Bank customers here at Brex:
Safety of funds
The safety of our customers’ funds is our top priority, and our products were designed to minimize risk and exposure to any one institution. As a result, Brex has no material exposure to First Republic Bank.
Brex card and payment flexibility
We aim to help First Republic Bank customers maintain business continuity and access to their operating cash flow by maintaining their current credit limit.
If you move funds out of First Republic Bank, we ask that you both update your autopay account and add additional bank connections as soon as possible. This will help you avoid credit limit disruptions by ensuring successful upcoming Brex card payments and maintaining your account limit.
Because Brex uses the cash balance from your connected banks and/or bank statements to determine your credit limit, you may want to use a different account for underwriting purposes to ensure there’s no credit limit disruption. If you don’t have an alternative bank account, we offer Brex business accounts as an option.
If you were using a First Republic Bank account as your autopay account for card statements, you may want to update this to avoid any disruptions. For more information, read How do I manage the autopay account for Brex card payments?.
Payments from First Republic Bank to a Brex business account
If you’d like, you can transfer funds from your First Republic Bank account to your Brex business account via ACH or wire. Wires generally process within 1-2 business days, while ACHs process within 5-7 business days. If you’re having trouble connecting your First Republic Bank account to Brex to complete the transfer, you can use your Brex business account and routing number to initiate a transfer from First Republic Bank’s platform.
Note that deposit limits vary by customer. Here is our standard policy on Brex deposit limits.
FDIC insurance up to $6M
Our Brex business account, a cash management account, gives you the benefits of money movement and money storage while providing the least exposure to any individual bank. You can protect their balance with up to $6M in FDIC insurance through our partner banks, including JPMorgan Chase. You can also invest some or all of your balance in a government-backed money market fund (MMF) held by Bank of New York Mellon to earn 4.48% yield. 100% of funds — even when invested in MMF — are always available for withdrawal, as Brex never uses deposits for lending purposes. Read more about the structure of Brex accounts here.
Additional questions
The situation with First Republic Bank is fluid. We’ll continue to update customers as things evolve.
If you have any other questions, please reach out here.