Short-sellers Rake in Nearly $1 bln Targeting US Regional Bank ETF

Short sellers targeting a key regional U.S. bank exchange-traded fund have made $977 million on paper so far in 2024, data from analytics firm Ortex showed, as troubles at New York Community Bancorp (NYCB.N), rippled across the industry.

“I think it (CRE exposure) is going to affect a lot more banks, whether or not they have underwritten properly,” said Robert Riva, member of real estate department at corporate law firm Cole Schotz.

“This is not something that’s localized to someone who’s maybe repeating the mistakes of Lehman Brothers, just 15 years later. It’s an industry-wide problem.”