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SVB Financial Group

SVB Financial Group was a diversified financial services company, bank holding company, and financial holding company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, whose principal subsidiary was Silicon Valley Bank, a commercial bank specializing in services for technology, life sciences, venture capital, and other innovation-focused clients.^[1]^[2] Founded in 1983 as Silicon Valley Bancshares, the company rebranded to SVB Financial Group and expanded internationally while maintaining a focus on the high-growth startup ecosystem, achieving significant asset growth to over $200 billion by late 2022 through deposit inflows from venture-backed firms.^[3]^[4]^[5] The group's defining crisis occurred in March 2023 when Silicon Valley Bank failed amid rising interest rates that devalued its long-term securities holdings—purchased during a low-rate environment—and triggered a rapid withdrawal of uninsured deposits exceeding 80% of its base, exacerbated by concentrated exposure to volatile tech sector funding cycles and inadequate interest rate risk hedging.^[6]^[7] This led to regulatory seizure of the bank by the FDIC on March 10, followed by SVB Financial Group's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on March 17, marking the largest U.S. bank failure since 2008 and prompting systemic liquidity interventions by federal authorities.^[8]^[9]

Overview

Corporate Profile and Strategic Focus

SVB Financial Group was a financial holding company headquartered at 3003 Tasman Drive in Santa Clara, California, operating primarily through its subsidiary Silicon Valley Bank. Founded in 1983, the company functioned as a bank holding company providing commercial banking, private banking, asset management, and investment services. Prior to its failure in March 2023, SVB Financial Group managed approximately $212 billion in total assets, with a balance sheet heavily oriented toward the technology and life sciences sectors.^[10]^[11]^[10] The company's strategic focus centered on serving the "innovation economy," targeting startups, venture-backed companies, and established firms in technology, life sciences, healthcare, and related fields. This niche positioning involved tailored financial products such as venture debt lending, cash management for high-growth entities, and advisory services for venture capital investors, reflecting a business model built around the cyclical fortunes of the tech startup ecosystem. SVB Financial Group emphasized deep relationships with clients, including nearly half of all U.S. venture-backed technology and healthcare companies, to facilitate rapid scaling and international expansion.^[12]^[6]^[13] This specialization distinguished SVB Financial Group from diversified peers, prioritizing sector-specific expertise over broad retail banking, which enabled it to capture deposits and lending opportunities tied to venture capital funding cycles but also exposed it to concentrated risks in innovation-driven industries.^[10]^[14]

Pre-Collapse Financial Scale

As of December 31, 2022, SVB Financial Group reported consolidated total assets of $211.8 billion, reflecting its position as a mid-tier player among U.S. banking institutions with a specialized focus on technology and innovation sectors.^[1] This asset base included $120.1 billion in investment securities, primarily held-to-maturity and available-for-sale portfolios concentrated in U.S. Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, alongside total loans of approximately $74.0 billion, much of which supported venture-backed startups and growth-stage companies.^[1] Total deposits stood at $175.4 billion, with roughly 94% uninsured, underscoring the institution's reliance on high-balance accounts from venture capital firms, tech enterprises, and private equity entities rather than traditional retail depositors.^[15] ^[10] These deposits had expanded rapidly from pandemic-era inflows, enabling SVB Financial to rank 16th among U.S. commercial banks by asset size at year-end.^[16] For the full year 2022, the group recorded consolidated net income available to common stockholders of $1.5 billion, or $25.35 per diluted share, driven by net interest income amid elevated deposit growth despite emerging pressures from rising interest rates.^[5] Equity capital totaled around $16.3 billion, supporting a common equity tier 1 ratio that met regulatory thresholds but highlighted vulnerabilities in duration mismatch between assets and short-term liabilities.^[17] ^[1]

Historical Development

Founding and Early Expansion (1983–2000)

Silicon Valley Bancshares, later renamed SVB Financial Group, established Silicon Valley Bank on October 17, 1983, as a state-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Santa Clara, California, specifically to serve the financing needs of technology startups and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.^[10]^[18] The bank's inception stemmed from discussions between Bill Biggerstaff, a Wells Fargo executive, and Robert Medearis during a 1981 poker game, leading to the opening of its first office on North First Street in San Jose under CEO Roger Smith.^[18]^[19] From the outset, the institution focused on providing specialized credit, deposit, and advisory services to early-stage ventures, differentiating itself from traditional banks wary of high-risk tech lending.^[20] In its initial years, Silicon Valley Bank navigated modest operations amid the 1980s tech sector volatility, incurring small losses while building relationships with venture-backed firms.^[21] The bank went public in 1988 via an initial public offering that raised $6 million in equity capital, enabling further infrastructure development.^[19] Expansion included opening a Palo Alto office in 1985 to proximity to Stanford University and venture capital hubs, followed by stock trading commencement in 1984.^[18] By year-end 1983, total assets stood at under $10 million, reflecting a lean startup phase centered on deposit gathering from founders and limited loans tied to venture capital syndicates.^[10] During the 1990s, the bank refocused after an unsuccessful venture into real estate lending in the early decade, which exposed it to downturn risks outside its core competency.^[22] It achieved profitability by the mid-1990s, posting 21 consecutive profitable quarters through targeted growth in startup banking, including expanded U.S. offices and initial international outreach to support Silicon Valley-linked ventures.^[21]^[19] Client base solidified around high-growth tech and life sciences firms, with lending practices emphasizing cash flow from equity financings over conventional collateral, fostering loyalty in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.^[20] This period marked the transition from survival to niche dominance, with assets growing steadily but remaining modest compared to national peers until the late 1990s dot-com prelude.^[10]

Growth Amid Tech Booms (2001–2019)

Following the dot-com bust, SVB Financial Group, through its primary subsidiary Silicon Valley Bank, demonstrated resilience by maintaining focus on technology and life sciences clients, with total assets reaching $4.17 billion by December 31, 2001.^[23] The bank recovered from a sharp stock decline exceeding 50 percent during the 2000–2001 market downturn, leveraging its established relationships with venture capital firms and startups to capitalize on emerging sectors like Web 2.0 applications and early biotechnology advancements.^[21] By 2005, assets had grown modestly to $5.54 billion, reflecting steady deposit inflows from recovering venture funding cycles, though constrained by broader economic caution post-2001 recession.^[23] International expansion supported diversification, with new offices established in the United Kingdom and Israel during the mid-2000s to serve global tech communities and diaspora networks.^[21] In 2004, the launch of a private banking division targeted high-net-worth individuals emerging from tech equity realizations, enhancing fee-based revenue streams amid maturing client portfolios.^[21] Despite the 2008 financial crisis, SVB's niche in non-cyclical innovation lending insulated it, enabling assets to surge to $17.52 billion by December 31, 2010, as low interest rates and renewed venture capital activity—fueled by mobile computing and cloud infrastructure booms—drove client deposits from equity-financed startups.^[23]^[10] The 2010s marked accelerated expansion aligned with the unicorn era, where SVB financed rapid scaling in software-as-a-service, e-commerce, and health tech firms backed by surging private investments. Assets climbed to $44.68 billion by December 31, 2015, and $71.00 billion by December 31, 2019, underscoring the bank's deepening embedment in the innovation ecosystem, serving a substantial portion of U.S. venture-backed technology and life sciences companies.^[23]^[10] Key acquisitions bolstered capabilities: in 2012, SVB Analytics in Boston enhanced data-driven insights for tech portfolio management; by late 2019, the purchase of Leerink Partners extended advisory services into healthcare and biotech mergers.^[21] This period's growth stemmed causally from symbiotic ties to venture capital liquidity, where client fundraising directly inflated uninsured deposits, enabling SVB to fund operations without heavy reliance on traditional retail bases.^[10]

Pandemic-Era Surge and Vulnerabilities (2020–2022)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, SVB Financial Group's deposit base expanded dramatically due to a surge in venture capital funding for technology startups, facilitated by historically low interest rates and substantial fiscal stimulus measures. Deposits grew from $61.76 billion at the end of 2019 to $189.20 billion by the end of 2021, reflecting an influx of funds from clients in the innovation economy who parked excess cash at the bank.^[24] Total assets similarly ballooned, increasing 271 percent from year-end 2018 to year-end 2021, far outpacing the banking industry's 29 percent growth over the same period.^[10] By March 31, 2022, deposits exceeded $200 billion and assets reached $217 billion, underscoring the bank's heavy reliance on this client segment.^[6] This growth masked emerging vulnerabilities, particularly in liquidity and interest rate risk management. Over 90 percent of SVB's deposits were uninsured, heightening exposure to rapid outflows from sophisticated, tech-sector clients capable of coordinated withdrawals.^[25] To deploy the influx of low-cost deposits, the bank shifted investments toward long-term U.S. Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities between 2020 and 2021, when yields were near historic lows; these holdings created an asset-liability mismatch, as short-term demand deposits funded longer-duration, fixed-rate assets sensitive to rate hikes.^[26] The cash-to-assets ratio declined from 15.3 percent in 2020 to 6.5 percent by 2022, eroding liquidity buffers amid the asset expansion.^[27] Federal Reserve supervisory examinations in 2020, 2021, and 2022 flagged deficiencies in interest rate risk modeling and oversight, noting inadequate stress testing for scenarios involving rising rates or deposit volatility.^[28] By late 2022, as Federal Reserve rate increases accelerated and venture funding contracted—leading to a 9 percent deposit decline—SVB faced pressure on net interest income, forcing reliance on costlier wholesale funding to replace outflows.^[29] These factors, combined with the bank's concentrated exposure to cyclical tech and venture capital sectors, amplified systemic risks that had built unchecked during the low-rate environment.^[30]

Business Model and Operations

Client Ecosystem and Specialized Services

SVB Financial Group's primary client ecosystem revolved around the innovation economy, encompassing early-stage and growth-oriented companies in technology, life sciences, healthcare, and related sectors, as well as their investors in venture capital and private equity.^[10] The bank served as a financial hub for this network, with its subsidiary Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) catering to nearly half of all U.S. venture-backed technology and life sciences startups as of 2022, including over 2,600 fintech clients alone.^[31] ^[32] This concentration fostered deep interconnections, as SVB aligned its lending and deposit practices with venture funding cycles, partnering closely with venture capital firms to underwrite loans based on anticipated equity rounds and thereby mitigating some credit risks inherent to pre-profitable ventures.^[33] Specialized services were tailored to address the cash flow volatility and capital-intensive needs of these clients, including venture debt financing, which allowed startups to extend runway without immediate equity dilution, alongside growth capital, working capital lines, and mezzanine debt structured around funding milestones.^[34] For venture capital investors, SVB offered dedicated solutions such as fund administration support, capital call financing, and advisory on portfolio company banking, enabling seamless transactions from seed-stage account openings to scaled venture debt for maturing startups.^[35] In life sciences and healthcare—spanning biopharma, healthtech, and medical devices—the bank provided sector-specific expertise, including foreign exchange hedging for international trials and M&A advisory to facilitate exits or partnerships.^[36] Beyond core lending, SVB's ecosystem services emphasized operational efficiency and strategic networking, with digital banking platforms for rapid treasury management, payments processing, and analytics tools to track venture deal flows, reinforcing its role as a connector in the startup-venture capital nexus.^[37] These offerings extended to private banking for high-net-worth individuals tied to the ecosystem, such as founders and investors, though the bank's deposits were disproportionately from uninsured startup and VC accounts, amplifying systemic ties to innovation sector fluctuations.^[38] By 2021, expansions into technology investment banking further integrated underwriting for IPOs, bonds, and M&A, targeting healthcare services and tech sectors to capture more of the client lifecycle.^[39]

Asset Management and Investment Practices

Silicon Valley Bank's investment practices involved deploying excess deposits into a securities portfolio heavily weighted toward long-duration, fixed-rate assets to generate yield amid prolonged low interest rates. Between 2018 and 2021, the portfolio expanded from $23 billion to $125 billion, driven by a 271% surge in deposits from venture capital-backed clients, with funds allocated primarily to U.S. Treasury securities, agency-issued mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) debt.^[28]^[6] By December 31, 2022, investment securities comprised 55% of the bank's $212 billion in total assets, dominated by agency MBS with a weighted-average duration of 6.2 years.^[28] A core element of the strategy was classifying most securities as held-to-maturity (HTM), which allowed the bank to carry them at amortized cost rather than fair value, deferring recognition of market losses. HTM holdings grew to $98 billion by the end of 2021—a 500% increase from 2018—and represented 78% of the securities portfolio by year-end 2022, with approximately 65% maturing beyond five years.^[6]^[28] This classification, combined with minimal hedging—SVB removed interest rate swaps in March 2022 to boost short-term net interest income—exposed the balance sheet to duration mismatch risks, as volatile, uninsured deposits (88% of total by late 2022) funded longer-term assets assuming deposit stability.^[28]^[6] Interest rate risk management proved inadequate, with economic value of equity (EVE) limits breached annually from 2020 onward due to flawed modeling assumptions, such as overestimating deposit durations without sufficient back-testing or sensitivity analysis.^[28] Rising Federal Reserve rates—from 0.25% in March 2022 to 4.5% by December—generated $15.2 billion in HTM unrealized losses and $2.5 billion in available-for-sale (AFS) losses by year-end, eroding capital when the bank sold $21 billion in AFS securities at a $1.8 billion realized loss on March 8, 2023.^[6]^[28] The bank's liquidity stress testing underestimated run risks from uninsured deposits, leaving an $18 billion projected 30-day shortfall by August 2022.^[28] In parallel, SVB offered advisory asset management services to technology and life sciences clients, providing customized liquidity and investment strategies for corporate treasuries, though these were secondary to the bank's proprietary portfolio operations.^[1] Overall, the practices reflected a focus on short-term profitability amid asset growth, with HTM reliance and de-hedging prioritizing reported earnings over comprehensive risk mitigation.^[28]^[6]

Path to Insolvency

Accumulating Interest Rate Risks

SVB Financial Group's subsidiary, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), accumulated substantial interest rate risks through its investment strategy amid low prevailing rates and rapid balance sheet expansion from 2020 to 2022.^[28] During this period, SVB's deposits surged from $62 billion at the end of 2019 to $198 billion by December 31, 2022, driven by pandemic-related fiscal stimulus, venture capital inflows, and growth in its tech and startup client base.^[28] With limited loan demand relative to inflows, SVB invested excess liquidity primarily in long-duration, fixed-rate securities such as U.S. Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities (MBS), which offered low yields—typically around 1-2%—but were perceived as low-risk due to government backing.^[28] By December 31, 2022, SVB's consolidated investment securities portfolio totaled $120.1 billion, comprising mostly held-to-maturity (HTM) assets not required to be marked to market on the balance sheet.^[1] These investments exposed SVB to duration mismatch risks, as the bank's liabilities—predominantly short-term, non-interest-bearing or low-rate deposits—had significantly shorter effective durations than the assets.^[6] The Federal Reserve's review identified SVB's failure to adequately assess and manage interest rate risk (IRR) in its expanding securities portfolio, with management prioritizing short-term profits and hedging primarily against potential rate decreases rather than increases.^[28] Initial interest rate hedges, such as swaps, were in place but were dismantled starting in early 2022 as rates began rising, leaving the portfolio unmitigated against adverse movements.^[6] This approach ignored early market signals of inflation and tightening policy, with SVB's models underestimating the speed and magnitude of rate hikes.^[28] The Federal Reserve initiated rate hikes on March 16, 2022, lifting the federal funds rate from near 0% to 4.25-4.50% by December 2022, with further increases to over 5% in 2023, in response to post-pandemic inflation peaking at 9.1% in June 2022.^[28] Rising yields inversely depressed the market values of SVB's long-duration bonds; for instance, a 1% increase in rates could reduce the value of a 10-year Treasury by approximately 8-10% due to duration effects.^[6] By late 2022, SVB reported escalating unrealized losses on its HTM portfolio, culminating in combined available-for-sale (AFS) and HTM unrealized losses exceeding $17.7 billion—surpassing the bank's tangible common equity of about $16 billion.^[28] These losses remained "paper" under HTM accounting but eroded economic capital, as SVB's assets were effectively underwater if liquidity needs forced sales.^[6] SVB's board and management inadequately stress-tested for sustained high rates or deposit outflows, with risk models assuming historical low-rate environments and underweighting tail risks from policy normalization.^[28] The Federal Reserve Board of Governors' analysis concluded that SVB's IRR management deficiencies stemmed from a culture overly optimistic about its niche market resilience, compounded by weak internal controls and insufficient oversight of portfolio concentrations in duration-sensitive instruments.^[28] Despite regulatory prompts, SVB did not meaningfully adjust its strategy, such as by shortening durations or enhancing hedges, allowing risks to compound unchecked until market dynamics in early 2023 crystallized the vulnerabilities.^[6]

Triggering Events and Market Panic (Early 2023)

On March 8, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, announced the sale of $21 billion in securities from its held-to-maturity (HTM) and available-for-sale (AFS) portfolios, realizing a $1.8 billion loss, and disclosed plans to raise $2.25 billion in new capital through a combination of common stock and warrants.^[28] This move was intended to address liquidity strains amid declining deposits and ongoing unrealized losses on longer-term securities accumulated during the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes, which had devalued the bank's bond holdings.^[28] The announcement crystallized fears about SVB's vulnerability, as the realized losses confirmed the severity of its interest rate risk exposure, previously estimated at over $15 billion in unrealized HTM losses as of late 2022.^[6] The disclosure triggered immediate market skepticism, with SVB's common stock (NASDAQ: SIVB) plummeting approximately 60% during trading on March 9, 2023, halting briefly due to volatility.^[40] Institutional investors, including venture capital firms like Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, began advising portfolio companies to withdraw funds, initiating a rapid deposit run.^[41] By the end of March 9, depositors attempted to withdraw $42 billion—equivalent to nearly 25% of SVB's $166 billion in total deposits—overwhelming the bank's liquidity despite its prior solvency.^[6] Uninsured deposits, which comprised over 90% of SVB's liabilities and were concentrated among tech startups and venture-backed firms, proved highly sensitive to perceived risks, exacerbating outflows through digital platforms enabling instant transfers.^[42] Social media platforms amplified the panic, functioning as a catalyst for coordinated withdrawals by spreading real-time concerns about SVB's stability among interconnected tech ecosystem participants.^[43] Discussions on Twitter (now X) and other channels, including warnings from influencers and venture capitalists, created feedback loops of fear, with sentiment analysis showing heightened negative attention correlating to accelerated run dynamics.^[28] This digital propagation differed from traditional bank runs by enabling near-instantaneous, information-driven contagion, drawing parallels to historical panics but accelerated by modern technology.^[43] The combination of SVB's announcement, equity market distress, and social amplification eroded confidence within hours, pushing the bank toward illiquidity despite available assets exceeding deposit claims on a mark-to-market basis.^[28]

Collapse and Resolution

Bank Seizure and FDIC Intervention (March 10–13, 2023)

On March 9, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, disclosed an unrealized loss of approximately $1.8 billion from selling securities and announced plans to raise $2.25 billion in new capital, prompting widespread concern among depositors.^[28] This announcement triggered a rapid bank run, with customers attempting to withdraw $42 billion in deposits that day—equivalent to about 25% of SVB's total $166 billion in deposits—leaving the bank with a negative cash balance of around $1 billion by day's end.^[6] Bank management anticipated further outflows exceeding $100 billion on March 10, exacerbating liquidity strains from the bank's heavy reliance on uninsured deposits and its securities portfolio vulnerabilities.^[28] On March 10, 2023, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation closed SVB due to its inability to meet withdrawal demands, appointing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver at approximately 11:15 a.m. EST.^[7] The FDIC immediately established Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A., transferring to it all deposit liabilities and substantially all assets of the failed bank to ensure operational continuity for depositors and borrowers.^[15] Insured depositors gained full access to their funds no later than Monday, March 13, while the FDIC committed to paying uninsured depositors a portion of their claims as the receivership assets were liquidated, with any shortfall potentially borne by the Deposit Insurance Fund.^[15] Following the concurrent failure of Signature Bank, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen invoked the systemic risk exception on March 12, 2023, in coordination with the Federal Reserve and FDIC, authorizing protection for all SVB depositors—including those with uninsured balances exceeding the $250,000 limit—effective March 13.^[44] This measure aimed to prevent broader contagion in the banking system, with costs to be recovered through a special assessment on large banks rather than taxpayer funds.^[45] By March 13, all SVB depositors could access their full balances via the bridge bank, stabilizing immediate outflows and averting further panic, though the intervention drew scrutiny for effectively backstopping uninsured deposits held predominantly by venture capital firms and tech startups.^[45]

Acquisition by First Citizens BancShares

On March 27, 2023, First Citizens Bank, a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, Inc., entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver for a whole-bank acquisition of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A., the bridge bank established by the FDIC following the seizure of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, 2023.^[46]^[47] Under the terms, First Citizens assumed all customer deposits totaling approximately $56 billion and acquired $110.1 billion in assets, including $72.1 billion in loans, at a discount that provided initial downside protection against potential losses.^[48]^[47] The agreement included a five-year shared-loss arrangement with the FDIC covering about $60 billion in loans, under which the FDIC agreed to reimburse First Citizens for 80% of losses on commercial loans and 95% on commercial real estate loans after deducting a specified threshold, with potential recoveries shared proportionally.^[49]^[50] The FDIC retained approximately $90 billion in additional SVB assets in receivership for separate disposition, reflecting adjustments to the deal terms to facilitate the transaction amid concerns over asset quality and market conditions.^[51] All assumed deposits, excluding certain Cede & Co. holdings, remained fully insured by the FDIC up to applicable limits, ensuring continuity for SVB's primarily uninsured tech and venture capital clients.^[7] Operationally, the 17 former Silicon Valley Bank branches reopened on March 27, 2023, as Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank, allowing seamless access for depositors whose accounts automatically transitioned.^[47] The acquisition expanded First Citizens' footprint in technology banking, adding specialized expertise in venture capital and innovation sectors while leveraging SVB's client base for cross-selling opportunities in commercial banking.^[49] Subsequent transactions in 2023 and beyond involved First Citizens purchasing additional SVB assets from the FDIC, further integrating the acquired operations.^[52] The shared-loss agreement was terminated on April 7, 2025, marking the resolution of FDIC involvement in loss mitigation for the covered portfolio.^[53]

Holding Company Bankruptcy Proceedings

On March 17, 2023, SVB Financial Group filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking a court-supervised reorganization following the seizure of its subsidiary Silicon Valley Bank by regulators on March 10, 2023.^[54]^[55] The filing listed estimated assets between $1 billion and $10 billion and liabilities exceeding $1 billion, with approximately $2.2 billion in available liquidity and $3.3 billion in outstanding debt at the time.^[56]^[57] Early in the proceedings, the debtor secured court approval for first-day motions, including authority to continue using cash collateral, pay certain prepetition obligations to preserve operations, and fund equity investments totaling about $50 million in the immediate post-filing period.^[58] The court established August 11, 2023, as the bar date for filing proofs of claim, after which the debtor notified creditors and published notices in national and local newspapers.^[59] Throughout 2023 and 2024, the case involved multiple adversary proceedings and objections, including a sustained objection by the Federal Reserve Board to certain claims in an August 2, 2024, memorandum opinion.^[60] A restructuring support agreement underpinned the proposed plan of reorganization, garnering support from over 98% of voting noteholders and general unsecured claimants.^[61] The bankruptcy court held a confirmation hearing on July 24, 2024, and entered an order confirming the plan on August 2, 2024.^[54] The plan became effective on November 7, 2024, resulting in the creation of a reorganized debtor entity focused on creditor distributions, wind-down of remaining operations, and resolution of legacy assets such as SVB Capital investments.^[62] Post-confirmation developments included the dismissal of over $944 million in claims and adversary proceedings against SVB Financial Trust brought by liquidators of Silicon Valley Bank entities, as ruled by the court on October 13, 2025, emphasizing the separation between the holding company's estate and the FDIC-receivership assets of the failed bank.^[63] The proceedings highlighted the holding company's strategy to maximize value for unsecured creditors through asset sales and litigation recoveries, distinct from the FDIC's resolution of the banking subsidiary sold to First Citizens BancShares.^[59]

Post-Collapse Developments

Integration and Operational Continuity Under First Citizens

First Citizens BancShares completed its acquisition of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A. on March 27, 2023, assuming approximately $110 billion in assets, $56 billion in deposits, and $72 billion in loans, thereby establishing SVB as a dedicated division focused on innovation-focused clients in venture capital, private equity, and technology sectors.^[64]^[65] This structure preserved SVB's specialized services, including global fund banking and treasury management tailored to startups and high-growth firms, without immediate alterations to client-facing operations.^[66]^[67] Integration proceeded gradually to prioritize operational continuity and minimize disruptions, with First Citizens intentionally delaying core system mergers to stabilize the SVB workforce—retaining key personnel amid post-collapse uncertainty—and reassure clients of uninterrupted access to deposits and lending.^[68] Technology infrastructures remained largely separate through 2024, allowing SVB to advance its independent digital roadmap for client platforms, such as cash management tools, before full convergence with First Citizens' systems.^[69] This phased strategy addressed risks from SVB's prior rapid deposit outflows, ensuring continuity in credit facilities and payment processing critical to tech ecosystem dependencies.^[70] To bolster client retention, First Citizens deployed AI-driven analytics starting post-acquisition to monitor high-net-worth and institutional customer behavior, including sentiment analysis of communications (e.g., detecting profanities or distress signals) and transaction patterns, enabling proactive interventions to avert withdrawals and sustain deposit levels.^[70] By September 2024, executives reported the process advancing "better than expected," with SVB functioning as a distinct critical business line in First Citizens' 2025 resolution plan, supported by the parent's expanded scale exceeding $220 billion in assets.^[71]^[72]^[73] Further milestones included the April 2025 termination of the FDIC shared-loss agreement on SVB's commercial loans and assets, signaling improved performance and reduced regulatory oversight needs, which facilitated smoother internal alignments without compromising service delivery.^[52] Throughout, SVB retained its branding and operational autonomy for core offerings, though First Citizens' CEO indicated in October 2025 that a potential rebrand—potentially phasing out the SVB name—remained under consideration to align with broader enterprise identity, pending evaluation of client impacts.^[74] This measured integration enhanced SVB's resilience, leveraging First Citizens' diversified funding while safeguarding the niche expertise that distinguished its pre-failure model.^[75]

Ongoing Litigation and Trademark Disputes (2023–2025)

In March 2023, following the FDIC's seizure of Silicon Valley Bank and its subsequent sale of assets to First Citizens BancShares, SVB Financial Group's holding company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, giving rise to multiple adversarial proceedings over asset distributions, claims objections, and indemnification rights.^[54] The bankruptcy court confirmed the reorganization plan on August 2, 2024, with the plan becoming effective on November 20, 2024, yet disputes persisted into 2025, including objections to over 1,500 claims totaling more than $9.5 billion as of early 2025.^[76]^[61] A prominent trademark dispute emerged in 2025 between SVB Financial Trust—the reorganized debtor succeeding SVB Financial Group—and First Citizens Bank and Trust Company. On March 5, 2025, SVB Financial Trust filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Case No. 3:25-cv-02267), alleging trademark infringement and seeking to enjoin First Citizens' use of the SVB name, logo, and related branding, which SVB claimed were not transferred in the 2023 purchase agreement covering only banking operations and deposits.^[77]^[78] SVB Financial Trust argued the trademarks retained value despite the bank's collapse and aimed to reclaim them for potential licensing or revival, citing the brand's prior association with venture capital and tech sectors.^[79] First Citizens countered on March 23, 2025, by initiating an adversary proceeding in the Southern District of New York bankruptcy court, requesting a declaratory judgment affirming its ownership of the trademarks as integral to the acquired goodwill and ongoing operations under the SVB banner.^[80]^[81] As of October 2025, the federal district court case remains pending, with jurisdictional overlaps complicating resolution.^[82] Parallel securities litigation against SVB Financial Group executives and directors advanced through 2025. In In re SVB Financial Group Securities Litigation (Case No. 5:23-cv-01097, Northern District of California), plaintiffs alleged misrepresentations regarding liquidity risks and interest rate exposures, leading to the bank's failure; on June 13, 2025, Judge Trina L. Thompson denied defendants' motions to dismiss the amended complaint in full, allowing claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act to proceed.^[83]^[84] Related shareholder suits, consolidated under Kessler Topaz representation, focused on deficient risk management disclosures predating the March 2023 collapse.^[85] SVB Financial Group also pursued claims against the FDIC in a $1.93 billion lawsuit filed in 2023 (Northern District of California), contesting the regulator's disposition of assets during the receivership; while some claims, including Freedom of Information Act violations, were dismissed on August 8, 2024, the court refused to dismiss core recovery demands in April 2025, citing factual disputes over the FDIC's valuation and transfer processes.^[86] In bankruptcy proceedings, SVB Financial Trust secured dismissal of over $944 million in adversary claims on October 13, 2025, brought by liquidators of affiliated entities, on grounds that the claims lacked contractual basis post-reorganization.^[63] These cases highlight tensions over asset allocation, intellectual property rights, and regulatory actions amid the holding company's wind-down.^[59]

Regulatory Analysis

Supervisory Lapses by Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve's internal review, conducted at the direction of Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr and released on April 28, 2023, concluded that supervision of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was inadequate, failing to address the bank's growing vulnerabilities amid rapid expansion and a unique business model reliant on uninsured tech-sector deposits.^[28] Supervisors underestimated risks such as interest rate sensitivity in SVB's held-to-maturity securities portfolio and liquidity strains from deposit concentration, rating the bank as "Satisfactory" in key areas like liquidity and governance from 2017 through early 2022 despite repeated findings of weak risk management practices.^[28] The review explicitly stated that "supervisors did not fully appreciate the extent of the vulnerabilities as Silicon Valley Bank grew in size and complexity," attributing this to a focus on process-oriented assessments rather than the inherent risks posed by the bank's asset-liability mismatch.^[28] Prior to SVB's designation as a large banking organization in February 2021—following its assets surpassing $100 billion in the second quarter of that year—examinations under the regional banking organization framework were limited in scope and resourcing, with light staffing (e.g., one examiner handling multiple risk areas) and no deep dives into interest rate risk (IRR) or liquidity despite asset growth from $71 billion in 2019 to $211 billion in 2021.^[28] CAMELS ratings remained at "Satisfactory-2" through 2020, even as 2018 and 2020 exams noted governance weaknesses and reactive risk management without issuing Matters Requiring Immediate Attention (MRIAs) or downgrades, offset by the bank's strong financial performance at the time.^[28] Post-designation, the transition to the large and foreign banking organization (LFBO) supervision program introduced delays, with liquidity weaknesses identified in a November 2021 exam leading only to Matters Requiring Attention (MRAs) rather than swift enforcement, and ratings not formally downgraded until August 17, 2022 (e.g., governance to "Deficient-1" and liquidity to "Requires Improvement").^[28] In 2022, as rising interest rates exposed SVB's IRR deficiencies—flagged in fall surveillance reports and a CAMELS exam—supervisors issued an MRA for unreliable IRR models in November 2022 and planned a downgrade to "Less-than-Satisfactory-3" overall, but actions lagged due to a deliberative consensus-building process and resource constraints (e.g., only 15 full-time examiners by December 2022 against a requested 20).^[28] A planned Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for corrective measures was delayed seven months and undelivered before SVB's failure on March 10, 2023; the review admitted that "when supervisors did identify vulnerabilities, they did not take sufficient steps to ensure that Silicon Valley Bank fixed those problems quickly enough."^[28] The Government Accountability Office (GAO) echoed these shortcomings in a March 2024 report, highlighting unclear Federal Reserve procedures for escalating supervisory concerns to enforcement actions, which lacked specific criteria and contributed to untimely responses on SVB's liquidity and risk management weaknesses amid 198% asset growth from 2019 to 2021—far exceeding peers' median 33%.^[87] The GAO recommended clearer escalation protocols and potential legislative noncapital triggers for earlier intervention.^[87]

Broader Implications for Bank Regulation

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March 2023 exposed vulnerabilities in the regulatory framework for mid-sized institutions, particularly those with assets between $100 billion and $250 billion, which benefited from tailored relief under the 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. This legislation raised thresholds for enhanced prudential standards, resulting in SVB facing reduced capital, liquidity, and stress testing requirements despite rapid growth from $49 billion in assets in 2019 to $209 billion by 2022.^[28]^[88] Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, argued that these rollbacks enabled inadequate oversight of interest rate risk and liquidity mismatches, as SVB's investment portfolio suffered unrealized losses exceeding $15 billion by late 2022 without sufficient hedges or capital buffers.^[89] However, Federal Reserve analyses emphasized that while lighter regulation played a role, the primary causes were managerial failures in risk governance and supervisory delays in enforcing corrective actions, rather than inherent flaws in the rules themselves.^[28]^[90] In response, U.S. banking regulators issued interagency guidance on March 17, 2023, urging institutions to bolster liquidity risk management, particularly for uninsured deposits—which comprised over 90% of SVB's funding—and to conduct robust stress testing for rapid outflows triggered by digital channels.^[91] The Federal Reserve's internal review recommended elevating supervision for fast-growing banks, mandating earlier intervention via Matters Requiring Attention (MRAs), and integrating unrealized losses more explicitly into capital assessments to address interest rate risk (IRR).^[28]^[6] Additionally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) outlined a 2025 roadmap for oversight improvements, including better data analytics for examiners and coordination among agencies to mitigate contagion risks, as evidenced by the subsequent failures of Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.^[92] Broader debates have centered on recalibrating post-Dodd-Frank tailoring, with proposals to lower thresholds for liquidity coverage ratios (LCR) and net stable funding ratios (NSFR) for regional banks, potentially requiring SVB-like institutions to hold more high-quality liquid assets against concentrated, volatile deposits from sectors like technology.^[93]^[94] The Financial Stability Board (FSB) highlighted implications for resolution regimes, advocating enhanced planning for uninsured deposit runs and reduced stigma around discount window access, as SVB's reluctance to borrow from the Federal Reserve exacerbated its liquidity crunch on March 9–10, 2023.^[94] Some analysts warn against over-reliance on higher capital as a panacea, noting that SVB's core issue was mismatched duration in assets and liabilities rather than outright insolvency, and propose targeted IRR metrics over broad Basel III expansions.^[95] As of October 2025, no major legislative reforms have passed, but ongoing Federal Reserve proposals aim to integrate SVB lessons into the Basel III endgame, emphasizing empirical stress scenarios for portfolio concentrations.^[96]^[97]

Criticisms and Debates

Internal Governance and Risk Oversight Failures

SVB Financial Group's board of directors exhibited significant deficiencies in oversight, failing to hold senior management accountable for escalating risks and lacking sufficient experience in supervising large financial institutions as the holding company's assets grew to approximately $211 billion by December 2022.^[28]^[6] The board did not receive comprehensive risk reporting from management until November 2022, despite internal breaches of interest rate risk limits dating back to 2017, and prioritized short-term profitability metrics over long-term risk mitigation.^[28] In September 2022, the board self-assigned SVBFG to the lowest supervisory tailoring category (cohort 4), which reduced the intensity of federal oversight and examination resources, further exacerbating governance gaps.^[28] Senior management compounded these issues through inadequate risk identification and mitigation practices, particularly in interest rate and liquidity risk management. Management discontinued interest rate hedges in early 2022 despite known vulnerabilities, relied on unreliable simulation models without proper back-testing, and employed less conservative assumptions in stress testing to downplay exposures.^[28] By year-end 2022, 94% of SVB's deposits were uninsured, and the bank failed its internal liquidity stress tests starting in July 2022, projecting a $18 billion shortfall in a 30-day outflow scenario by August 2022, yet contingency funding plans remained untested and ineffective.^[28] The three-lines-of-defense framework was weak, with internal audit functions operating reactively and providing insufficient coverage of critical risk areas like enterprise-wide and technology risks.^[6] Incentive compensation structures reinforced these failures by linking executive pay primarily to short-term financial performance indicators, such as return on equity and total shareholder return, without meaningful adjustments for risk management deficiencies.^[28]^[6] For instance, despite identified weaknesses in risk programs during 2021, no reductions were made to 2021 incentive awards, and cash bonuses were disbursed on March 10, 2023—the day of SVB's closure—amid deteriorating conditions.^[28] The board's compensation committee relied uncritically on CEO recommendations lacking supporting documentation, failing to integrate risk-adjusted metrics into evaluations.^[28] These practices fostered a culture reactive to risks rather than proactive, contributing directly to the firm's inability to withstand the March 2023 liquidity crisis triggered by deposit outflows exceeding $40 billion in a single day.^[28]^[6] Silicon Valley Bank's deposit base was predominantly composed of uninsured funds from technology startups and venture capital firms, which grew rapidly during the low-interest-rate environment of the early 2020s. Between 2020 and 2021, U.S. venture capital-backed technology companies raised approximately $330 billion, doubling from prior years and driving SVB's deposits from $62 billion to $124 billion.^[98] This concentration exposed the bank to the cyclical volatility of the tech sector, where client cash burn rates and fundraising dependencies amplified liquidity risks during economic shifts.^[28] The Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes starting in 2022, aimed at combating inflation, depressed technology valuations and curtailed venture capital inflows, prompting SVB's tech clients to withdraw deposits at an accelerating pace. By early 2023, deposit outflows intensified as startups faced prolonged cash reserves amid reduced funding rounds and higher operational costs, with SVB losing billions in a single day on March 9. This dynamic underscored SVB's vulnerability to sector-specific downturns, as its asset-liability mismatch—long-term bond holdings funded by short-term, volatile tech deposits—left little buffer against client-driven runs.^[6] Social media platforms, particularly Twitter, played a catalytic role in precipitating the March 2023 bank run by enabling rapid dissemination of concerns among SVB's tech-savvy depositors. A surge in Twitter activity from apparent SVB clients discussing withdrawal strategies preceded the failure, with "tech" Twitter users—likely including startup founders and venture capitalists—exhibiting outsized influence in amplifying panic.^[43] Digital banking tools facilitated instantaneous transfers, allowing $42 billion in deposits to be withdrawn in hours on March 9, far exceeding traditional run speeds.^[99] The Federal Reserve noted that social media's ability to coordinate fears in real-time, combined with SVB's uninsured deposit structure (over 90% uninsured), transformed latent vulnerabilities into a systemic withdrawal event.^[28]

Policy and Ideological Narratives Surrounding the Failure

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, 2023, commentators across the political spectrum advanced competing narratives attributing the failure to broader policy failures or cultural shifts, often prioritizing ideological framing over the bank's specific mismanagement of interest rate and liquidity risks.^[100] Conservative voices frequently linked the debacle to excessive emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities, arguing these diverted executive attention from core risk oversight.^[101] For instance, SVB's CEO Gregory Becker had publicly advocated for climate-related investments and diverse hiring, while the board included members with limited traditional banking experience, such as a nursery school operator and a social psychologist, which critics claimed exemplified unqualified appointments driven by ideological quotas over expertise.^[102] Donald Trump Jr. asserted that "SVB is what happens when you push a leftist/woke ideology and have that take precedent over common sense business practices," a sentiment echoed by figures like Sen. Josh Hawley, who labeled it "too woke to fail."^[101] Proponents of this view pointed to SVB's heavy lending to ESG-aligned tech startups and its prolonged vacancy in the chief risk officer position from April 2022 to November 2022 as evidence that progressive priorities eroded prudent governance.^[103] However, empirical analyses, including Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reviews, found no direct causal link between DEI efforts and the losses, which stemmed primarily from unrealized declines in long-duration Treasury holdings amid Federal Reserve rate hikes.^[104] In contrast, progressive and Democratic narratives emphasized regulatory deregulation under the 2018 Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, signed by President Trump, which exempted banks with assets between $100 billion and $250 billion—like SVB, which exceeded $200 billion by late 2022—from enhanced stress testing and liquidity requirements originally mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.^[105] The Federal Reserve's post-collapse review explicitly cited this rollback as contributing to inadequate supervision, noting that SVB's rapid growth post-2018 evaded rigorous oversight that might have flagged its $40 billion in bond sale losses.^[106] Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced legislation on March 14, 2023, to repeal these exemptions, arguing they enabled "unnecessary risk-taking" by mid-sized institutions.^[107] Sen. Bernie Sanders similarly blamed "Trump-era deregulation" for the crisis, linking it to broader systemic vulnerabilities exposed by the failures of SVB and Signature Bank.^[108] Yet, SVB's core issues—over-reliance on uninsured deposits from venture capital firms and failure to hedge against rate increases—predated the 2018 changes, and even Dodd-Frank-compliant banks faced similar pressures from the Fed's aggressive 2022-2023 tightening cycle, suggesting deregulation alone did not precipitate the run.^[109] These polarized interpretations reflect deeper ideological divides, with right-leaning critiques portraying the failure as a cautionary tale against "woke capitalism" infiltrating finance, potentially amplifying reputational risks via social media-fueled scrutiny of SVB's progressive stances.^[110] Left-leaning accounts, amplified in mainstream outlets, framed it as evidence for reinstating stringent post-2008 safeguards, though Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged supervisory lapses under the Biden administration as a primary factor, independent of partisan policy shifts.^[111] Empirical consensus from regulators attributes the collapse to a "textbook case of mismanagement" rather than ideology or isolated deregulation, underscoring how narratives often overlay causal simplifications onto multifaceted financial dynamics.^[112]

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Bank Supervision: More Timely Escalation of Supervisory Action ...
Mar 6, 2024 · Risky business strategies and weak liquidity and risk management contributed to the failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in ...
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Could Better Rules Have Saved Silicon Valley Bank? - Yale Insights
May 16, 2023 · Was the closure of Silicon Valley Bank in March a failure of regulation? A 2018 law and subsequent rules implemented by the federal banking ...
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One Year After SVB Collapse, Warren Calls on Banking Regulators ...
Mar 11, 2024 · On April 28, 2023, following the Fed's report on SVB's failure, Senator Warren released a statement calling on the Fed to immediately adopt ...
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What did the Fed do after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank ...
The Hutchins Center explains how the Federal Reserve has responded to the March 2023 failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
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Lessons Learned from the U.S. Regional Bank Failures of 2023 - FDIC
May 17, 2024 · As many of you probably know, on March 10, 2023, SVB, with $209 billion in assets at year-end 2022, was closed by the state banking authority, ...
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After 2023 Bank Failures—Here's Our Roadmap for Improving Bank ...
Mar 4, 2025 · When Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank failed in 2023, they marked two of the largest bank failures in U.S. history.
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US regulation after SVB's collapse: What regulators can do and ...
Apr 21, 2023 · US bank regulators can take numerous steps to address the many perceived supervisory weaknesses exposed by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
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2023 Bank Failures: Preliminary lessons learnt for resolution
Oct 10, 2023 · ... failure since 2008. In addition, the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank showed that banks not ...
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SVB's failure has led US regulators to see higher capital as solution ...
Aug 11, 2023 · The failure of Silicon Valley Bank and a few others has led regulators to swing the pendulum too far toward more draconian capital solutions.
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Silicon Valley Bank's Collapse: One Year Later, What Have We ...
Mar 15, 2024 · Our research suggests three key implications for the overhaul of bank capital regulation and risk supervision. First, our work indicates that ...<|separator|>
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Michelle W Bowman: Liquidity, supervision, and regulatory reform
Jul 23, 2024 · Earlier this year, we passed the one-year anniversary of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. The failure of these ...
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[PDF] Silicon Valley Bank: An Outlier Among Peers - MUFG Americas
Silicon Valley Bank was not even included among the 39 banks on the FDIC's “Problem Bank” list at the end of 2022. Problem Banks are those whose financial ...
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Silicon Valley Bank post-mortem cites social media, digital banking
May 8, 2023 · California regulator cites social media, digital banking as key factors in Silicon Valley Bank's failure. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in ...
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No, Diversity Did Not Cause Silicon Valley Bank's Collapse
Mar 15, 2023 · The collapse was due to a bank run precipitated by a decline in start-up funding, rising interest rates and the firm's sale of government bonds at a huge loss ...Missing: narratives | Show results with:narratives
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Conservatives blame Silicon Valley Bank collapse on 'diversity' and ...
Mar 13, 2023 · “SVB is what happens when you push a leftist/woke ideology and have that take precedent over common sense business practices,” Donald Trump Jr.Missing: narratives | Show results with:narratives
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What the hell is a “woke bank”? - Vox
Mar 14, 2023 · The bank's collapse was “what happens when you push a leftist/woke ideology” that “take[s] precedent over common sense business practices.”
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Is 'Wokeism' to Blame for Silicon Valley Bank's Demise? No and Yes
Mar 27, 2023 · Regulatory failure, however, should not overshadow the bank's own internal failures, which are obvious even to those without investment banking ...
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FACT FOCUS: Claims blame 'woke' policies on bank's demise
Mar 16, 2023 · “Bottom line: The bank failed because of liquidity issues,” Chittenden wrote in an email. “The failure had nothing to do with the quality of any ...
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Fed points finger at Trump-era rollback for SVB demise | Reuters
Apr 29, 2023 · The Federal Reserve on Friday blamed the deregulatory zeal that occurred during the Trump era for contributing to the second-largest bank ...
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Fed blames Trump-era policies, SVB leaders — and itself - Politico
and itself — for bank's stunning collapse. The document is a key opening salvo as the Fed and other ...
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SVB Collapse: Warren bill would repeal 2018 deregulation ... - CNBC
Mar 14, 2023 · The collapsed Silicon Valley Bank had assets of around $209 billion, leading Democrats to argue that the collapse could have been averted if SVB ...
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Democrats Blame SVB Collapse On Trump-Era Regulatory ... - Forbes
Mar 13, 2023 · Democrats placed blame for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank over the weekend on looser regulations signed by former ...
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Deregulation, not diversity, drove Silicon Valley Bank's downfall
Mar 15, 2023 · The Dodd-Frank Act from 2010 could have prevented Silicon Valley Bank's sudden failure. Republicans and Democrats are responsible for subsequent ...Missing: criticism | Show results with:criticism
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How the SVB Collapse Has Sparked a Run On The Truth | TIME
Mar 15, 2023 · SVB's fall has set off a frenzy of mythmaking, ranging from tired ideological cliches to hysterical hyperbole to retroactive prophets falsely claiming credit ...
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Silicon Valley Bank failed because of regulators' sluggishness, Fed's ...
Jul 10, 2023 · ... Bank President Mary Daly said Monday in her first extended remarks about the collapse ... failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Spencer Platt ...
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Fed calls SVB's failure a "textbook case of bank mismanagement"
Mar 28, 2023 · ... collapse of Silicon Valley Bank ... He testified that supervisors began to issue warnings in November 2021, and the bank failed to address issues ...