US banks are failing, and the authorities seem unlikely to intervene

Regional lenders such as PacWest and Western Alliance are not seen as systemically important and more consolidation is ahead

• Trading halted in shares of two more US lenders as fears of banking crisis mount

Shares in two more US regional banks have been suspended. Regulators moved in to halt trading in Los Angeles-based PacWest and Arizona’s Western Alliance on Thursday after they became the latest victims of an escalating crisis that began with Silicon Valley Bank in March.

The message from central banks and bank supervisors is that this is not a rerun of the global financial crisis of 2008. That may be true. With the exception of Switzerland’s Credit Suisse, European banks have escaped the turmoil. It is specific US banks that are the problem.