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‘Substantial Interest’ For Collapsed Silicon Valley Bank As Feds Auction Off What’s Left

   DailyWire.com
REBECCA NOBLE/AFP via Getty Images

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced on Monday that the bidding process for remaining assets at the defunct Silicon Valley Bank would be extended due to “substantial interest” from possible acquirers.

Silicon Valley Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the United States, collapsed earlier this month as depositors rushed to withdraw their funds and the company suffered heavy losses from the liquidation of a long-term bond portfolio. The FDIC now directs holdings maintained by Silicon Valley Bank, which California state regulators closed on March 10, as well as Signature Bank in New York, which was closed two days later.

FDIC officials established Silicon Valley Bridge Bank and appointed new senior management in the wake of the firm’s implosion. The government-backed corporation will permit other banks, as well as non-bank financial companies, to submit offers for the acquisition of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank or propose bids on particular deposits and assets.

“There has been substantial interest from multiple parties, and the FDIC and the bidders need more time to explore all options in order to maximize value and achieve an optimal outcome,” the FDIC said in a press release, which added that bids for Silicon Valley Bridge Bank must be submitted by Friday.

The vast majority of deposits at Silicon Valley Bank, which offered services to nearly half of the venture-backed technology and healthcare firms in the United States, exceeded the $250,000 threshold typically insured by the FDIC. Regulators scrambled to guarantee all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank such that the remainder of the financial system, in which roughly half of the deposits surpass $250,000, would remain protected from bank runs.

The FDIC added that the 17 branches formerly operated by Silicon Valley Bank in California and Massachusetts continue to operate under Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, while customers “have full access to all of their money” through the new entity.

New York Community Bancorp acquired the 40 former branches of Signature Bridge Bank on Sunday for more than $38 billion and will service the defunct firm’s clients via Flagstar Bank, according to a statement from the FDIC. The two largest banks in Switzerland, UBS and Credit Suisse, likewise merged over the weekend as the former purchased the latter for more than $3 billion. Credit Suisse, formerly the eighth-largest investment bank in the world, had struggled over the past several years under lackluster risk and compliance management.

Many have expressed concern that the tumult in the global banking industry could produce greater consolidation in the sector as government agencies avert a financial crisis by permitting large firms to combine. First Republic Bank received $30 billion in liquidity to cover deposits last week from companies such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America in a move that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg, and Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu said was “most welcome.”

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The White House asked lawmakers to introduce regulations meant to “hold senior management accountable when their banks fail” or enter into the control of the FDIC and vowed that “the American people and American businesses can have confidence that their bank deposits will be there when they need them.” Yellen nevertheless admitted last week that authorities would only protect uninsured deposits at banks whose failure would “create systemic risk.”

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