Largest banks doing big acquisitions not ideal, FRC an exception - Powell

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said it was probably good policy that the largest banks are not doing big acquisitions, but said that JPMorgan Chase & Co's acquisition of First Republic Bank was an exception. Regulators have to follow the law of going with the least-cost bid, Powell said.

Regulators seized First Republic and sold its assets to JPMorgan on Monday, in a deal to resolve the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis and draw a line under a lingering banking turmoil. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point and signaled it may pause further increases.