United States: The US government has announced that people and businesses who have money deposited with the failed US bank Sillicon Valley Bank (SVB) will be able to access their cash.
A statement from the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) promised that depositors would be fully protected.
“The taxpayer will not bear any losses from the move,” the statement added.
SVB was shut down by regulators, who recently seized its assets. It was the largest failure of a US bank since the financial crisis in 2008. The move came as the bank was scrambling to raise money to plug a loss from the sale of assets affected by higher interest rates.
“The US banking system remains resilient and on a solid foundation, in large part due to reforms that were made after the financial crisis that ensured better safeguards for the banking industry. Those reforms, combined with today’s actions, demonstrate our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors’ savings remain safe,” the authorities’ joint statement remarked.
The actions also apply to Signature Bank of New York, seen as the most vulnerable institution after SVB, which came under regulatory control recently. As part of their moves to ensure confidence, regulators further revealed a new method to give banks access to emergency funds.
The Federal Reserve stated that it would offer assistance through a new Bank Term Funding Program, making it easier for banks to borrow from it in a crisis. The country’s President Mr. Joe Biden commented that the American people could have “confidence that their bank deposits will be there when they need them.”