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SVB Financial now mulls strategic options

SVB Capital and SVB Securities are separate divisions of SVB Financial and not part of Silicon Valley Bank
SVB Capital and SVB Securities are separate divisions of SVB Financial and not part of Silicon Valley Bank

Defunct startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group said today that it was planning to explore strategic alternatives for its businesses, including the holding company, SVB Capital and SVB Securities.

SVB's plan comes after Californian regulators closed its banking unit on Friday following a failed share sale that drained $42 billion in deposits in a single day and sucked out liquidity at the company.

SVB Capital and SVB Securities are separate divisions of SVB Financial and not part of Silicon Valley Bank, which is undergoing resolution under the jurisdiction of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the US Federal Reserve.

The company also said its board had appointed are structuring committee consisting of five independent directors.

The FDIC today said it had transferred all Silicon Valley Bank deposits to a newly created bridge bank and that all depositors would have access to their money from this morning.

Last week, the tech lender failed to raise enough capital to plug a $1.8 billion hole after it sold a $21 billion portfolio of available-for-sale securities at a loss as rising interest rates eroded the value of US treasuries.

"Unfortunately, one of the first consequences of SIVB's collapse is probably that it will cause a flight of uninsured deposits from smaller, less diverse banks to larger, more diverse ones," Oppenheimer said in a note today.

The collapse of SVB, the biggest bank to fail since Washington Mutual went bust during the financial crisis of 2008, has crippled banks stocks and triggered concerns of a contagion throughout global markets.