NEW YORK - Governments in the U.S. and Britain are taking extraordinary steps to prevent a potential banking crisis after the failure of California-based Silicon Valley Bank prompted fears of a broader upheaval.U.S.
regulators worked through the weekend to find a buyer for the bank, which had more than $200 billion in assets and catered to tech startups, venture capital firms, and well-paid technology workers.While those efforts appeared to have failed, officials assured all of the bank’s customers that they would be able to access their money on Monday.RELATED: US government says all Silicon Valley Bank clients will have access to fundsThe assurances came as part of an expansive emergency lending program intended to prevent a wave of bank runs that would threaten the stability of the banking system and the economy as a whole.Meanwhile, the Bank of England and U.K.
Treasury said early Monday that they had facilitated the sale of the bank’s London-based subsidiary to HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, ensuring the security of 6.7 billion pounds ($8.1 billion) of deposits.A person leaves from Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, United States on March 10, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Regulators in the U.S.
rushed to close Silicon Valley Bank on Friday when it experienced a traditional bank run, where depositors rushed to withdraw their funds all at once.