The hits keep coming for New York Community Bancorp: What matters now is how its depositors react to the spreading dumpster fire. Nervousness among customers would lead to a painful squeeze on profits; it could be more dangerous than that.

NYCB’s great defense against outright disaster is that nearly three-quarters of deposits have no reason to flee: They are insured or at least collateralized so those customers can’t lose money. But the deteriorating situation has exposed serious management flaws at the Hicksville-based bank and raised questions about how supervisors allowed it to grow so rapidly through two closely spaced acquisitions since 2022.