SVB latest news: Biden to address US on Silicon Valley Bank collapse as HSBC buys UK arm

President Joe Biden will address the nation about the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was the largest collapse of a US bank since the 2008 global financial crisis and the second largest in American history.

In a statement Sunday night, the President said that in a speech to the American people Monday morning, he will “make comments on how we will maintain a resilient banking system to protect our historic economic recovery.”

“Over the weekend, and at my direction, the Treasury Secretary and my director of the National Economic Council have been working diligently with banking regulators to address issues at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank,” he said.

“I’m pleased they found a quick fix that protects American workers and small businesses and keeps our financial system safe. The solution also ensures that taxpayers’ money is not put at risk.

“The American people and American companies can have confidence that their bank deposits will be there when they need them. I am determined to hold those responsible for this mess fully accountable and to continue our efforts to strengthen supervision and regulation of larger banks so that we do not find ourselves in this position again.”

Mr. Biden will address the nation at 8 a.m. ET.

All customers from Silicon Valley Bank will have free access to their funds for US taxpayers starting Monday, federal regulators announced as a second bank shut down.

Minister of Finance Janet YellenChairman of the Federal Reserve Board Jerome Powelland FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg released a joint statement Sunday night outlining what they call critical actions to protect the U.S. economy and boost public confidence in the banking system.

“Upon receiving a recommendation from the boards of directors of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, and after consultation with the President, Secretary Yellen approved actions that will enable the FDIC to complete its resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, Santa Clara, California, in a manner that will satisfy all fully protects depositors,” the statement said.

Oliver O’Connell Reports:

Jeremy Hunt told broadcasters that Britain’s banking system is “resilient” amid concerns sparked by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The Chancellor told broadcasters after the sale of the banking arm to HSBC: “We always have to monitor everything that’s happening around the world when it comes to financial stability.

“But what I would say is that the Bank of England is very clear – the UK banking system is extremely safe, it’s well capitalised.

“And I think we’ve shown that resilience through what happened over the weekend and the fact that we were able to find a solution so quickly.”

President Joe Biden will address the nation about the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which was the largest collapse of a US bank since the 2008 global financial crisis and the second largest in American history.

In a statement Sunday night, the President said that in a speech to the American people Monday morning, he will “make comments on how we will maintain a resilient banking system to protect our historic economic recovery.”

A tech chief has opened up about the “anxious weekend” he was having before HSBC stepped in to bail out collapsed lender SVB this morning.

Toby Mather, founder and CEO of Lingum, an education start-up, said his company struggled to pay employees’ wages in a matter of weeks.

“We had enough money in bank accounts outside the UK and enough income from our clients each week that we could look our staff in the eye at 9am this morning and say we could do payroll in two weeks, but we would were very insecure from then on,” he told the BBC.

Online retailer THG, formerly called The Hut Group, said it has “no exposure to SVB” with no cash in any of its accounts or loans from the bank.

THG plc, formerly The Hut Group, is a British e-commerce retail company headquartered at Manchester Airport, England.

It sells cosmetics, dietary supplements, and luxury goods from own and third-party brands.

The top group fell nearly 2 percent down 132.2 points to 7616.2 in Monday morning trade, with banks and financial stocks extending stocks losses seen on Friday.

HSBC’s £1 deal to take over the UK arm of the failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB UK) failed to halt the London market’s slide as fears of contagion mounted.

Naked Wines said there was “no loss expected” from the outage. It has £14million in a “cash sweep account” where SVB was the custodian.

This money should be recoverable through the procedure put in place by the US authorities.

Before the US Treasury said it would protect depositors, Naked Wines thought about £600,000 was at risk and uninsured.

Dozens of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange informed shareholders of their exposure to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and its UK branch.

HSBC announced on Monday morning that it was taking over the UK arm of the collapsed bank, while US authorities said depositors at SVB will have access to all of their money from today.

More than 40 London-listed companies issued updates as markets opened Monday, with Moonpig, THG, Future and Naked Wines among the most prominent.

Greeting card company Moonpig said it had “no material exposure to SVB UK”. It does not have an account with the bank and does not keep cash there.

It has the ability to borrow around £250m from 10 banks, which include SVB. It had a £13million loan promise from SVB which it has yet to draw.

Martha Lane Fox, President of the UK Chamber of Commerce, said the collapse of the Silicon Valley bank was “quite different” from the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

When asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today program about the broader questions surrounding the collapse, she said: “It was a banker who was providing particularly diligent services to the sector, which is growing very quickly and needs attention from all of us because there is a will be an important part of our future positioning and the future strength of our economy.

“One could argue that it was a single point of failure, or one could argue that this patchwork of incredible companies allowed it to grow rapidly.

“This is not a collapse due to risky management. In a lot of ways, it’s not like the 2008 bank collapse or the Lehman collapse or anything like that.”

She described it as a “very different structural problem”.