Bank of America said to buy Signature Bank, tweets Ackman

(Reuters) -Bill Ackman in a tweet on Friday said Bank of America is going to acquire Signature Bank on Monday, without citing the source of information.

“I am hearing that @BankofAmerica is going to buy Signature Bank on Monday. Unless and until we can protect uninsured deposits, the cost of capital is going to rise for smaller banks pushing them to merge or be acquired by the SIBs. I don’t think this is good for America,” he tweeted.

However, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Bank of America is not interested in buying Signature Bank.

Signature Bank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Bank of America declined to comment.

State regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank on Sunday, the third largest failure in U.S. banking history, two days after authorities shuttered Silicon Valley Bank in a collapse that stranded billions in deposits.

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma and Greg Roumeliotis; Editing by Maju Samuel)