In an effort to give First Republic Bank more time to strengthen its balance sheet, U.S. authorities are considering expanding an emergency lending facility that would provide banks with greater help, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday.

According to the article, which cited sources with knowledge of the issue, all discussions are in the early stages, and expanding the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending program is just one of the numerous options being considered by officials to help the struggling lender.

All eligible users would be affected by any modifications made to the Fed’s liquidity offerings, although First Republic would stand to gain from them, according to Bloomberg.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), First Republic Bank, and US Treasury spokespeople all declined to comment. A request for comment from Reuters was not immediately answered by the Federal Reserve.

Following the bankruptcies of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, American banks have contacted the Federal Reserve for unprecedented sums of emergency liquidity in the previous month.

The economic team of American President Joe Biden collaborated with regulators earlier this month to establish measures to support the banking system. These measures included creating a new facility to give banks access to emergency funds and simplifying the process for banks to borrow money from the Fed in times of need.

(Adapted from Investing.com)