Reported by Ben Foldy and Tom McGinty

Top executives of First Republic Bank sold millions of dollars of company stock in the two months before the bank’s shares plummetedduring the panic over the health of regional lenders.

The bank’s chief risk officer sold on March 6, according to government documents. Two days later, Silicon Valley Bank shocked the market and sent other banks into freefall. First Republic was among the worst hit.

Executives had been selling for months, the documents show. Executive Chairman James Herbert II has sold $4.5 million worth of shares since the start of the year. In all, insiders have sold $11.8 million worth of stock so far this year at prices averaging just below $130 a share. The bank’s chief credit officer, its president of private wealth management and chief executive together sold $7 million worth of stock.

First Republic’s stock has lost 58% this week, and closed Thursday at $34.27 after a group of banks said it would deposit $30 billion to rescue the bank. Credit-rating firm S&P Global Ratings downgraded the bank’s credit by four notches to a speculative or “junk” rating.

As of Wednesday, First Republic is the only company listed on the S&P 500 index that doesn’t file its insider trades with the SEC, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.

Read full report: https://www.wsj.com/articles/first-republic-bank-executives-sold-12-million-in-stock-in-months-before-crash-ca6ce79e