CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Within the last two months, the United States has seen three major banks fail.  

California’s Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in March. Two days later New York-based Signature Bank failed. Monday, First Republic Bank (San Francisco) faced mandatory closure by regulators.  

The recent failures are having a ripple effect across the entire banking system. 

Thursday Bloomberg reported that PacWest Bank is exploring all options after its shares plummeted by more than 50 percent.  

On top of that, executives with TD Bank and First Horizon are calling off a planned merger worth more than $13 billion.  

“The minute that one bank looks like it’s in trouble everyone searches for, ‘OK, which ones next? Which ones next? Which ones next?’” UNC Charlotte Economics Professor John Connaughton said.  

A Gallup poll shows nearly 50 percent of Americans are concerned about the safety of their money. Some say it’s an instance of history repeating itself. 

“Well, I would be concerned too because with the banks themselves,” a man in Uptown said. “What is happening today is a repeat of what happened a decade ago.” 

“That number is high — 50 percent,” uptown worker Hawkins Jean said. “You know, maybe it is not as bad as we think.” 

Queen City News asked Connaughton if concerns are warranted. 

“Yes,” he said. 

In any bank failure, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures up to $250,000 per depositor. Anything above that, is likely gone.  

While the average American is below the threshold, millions of small businesses across the U.S. are not.  

“We’ve got an economy where a small business has to have millions of dollars in a bank in a transaction account to run their business and it is uninsured,” Connaughton said.  

Economists say big banks like Charlotte’s Bank of America and Wells Fargo are considered too big to fail.