"Bank runs, bailouts, rescues: are the ghosts of 2008 rising again? The travails of Credit Suisse and others have stirred up bad memories for a public still scarred by the financial crisis

No one in the Treasury had expected March to be easy. Last Monday’s economics-heavy review of defence and foreign policy, and last Wednesday’s budget, meant that a tough week for its mandarins was already priced in. But none of them had expected to have to sell a bank for £1.

That happened in the early hours of Monday, when Treasury and central bank officials eventually brokered a deal for HSBC to buy the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB UK) for a nominal fee – following the collapse of SVB’s California parent when a disastrous investment strategy unravelled.

After a frantic weekend spent trying to salvage the bank, on which much of Britain’s tech sector depended for cashflow, they then had to finish Jeremy Hunt’s maiden budget.

However, the rescue turned out to just be the “warmup act in some ways”, according to a senior Whitehall official. What followed was days of near-constant communication with the Bank of England in order to avoid a re-run of the 2008 banking crisis, as confidence faltered in Switzerland’s second-largest lender, Credit Suisse."

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/18/bank-runs-bailouts-rescues-are-the-ghosts-of-2008-rising-again

#Capitalism #Banks #BankingCrisis #CreditSuisse #Switzerland #UK #Economics #SVB #SVBUK #JeremyHunt #UKPolitics

@Gerz

Interesting. I thought SVB mainly backed small start up businesses.

I was surprised to read that #Etsy is one of the businesses affected with some payment delays.

#SVBUK’s 3,500 customers include #HelloFresh, #Moonpig and #Notonthehighstreet

A buy out of the UK bank looks likely. Several potential backers have stepped forward already.

Silicon Valley Bank's UK branch shut down by Bank of England - Several U.K. venture capital firms have shown support for SVB UK ... - https://cointelegraph.com/news/silicon-valley-bank-s-uk-branch-shut-down-by-bank-of-england #thecoalitionforadigitaleconomy #andreessenhorowitz #siliconvalleybank #panteracapital #castlehill #paradigm #svbuk. #boe

#SVB #SVBUK

On Friday afternoon, SVB UK posted a statement on Twitter stressing that it was a “standalone independent banking institution”.

“We appreciate that this is a concerning time for our clients so we are working tirelessly to support them and give more context,” Erin Platts, chief executive and head of SVB UK, said in a statement. The tweet has since been removed.

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

https://www.ft.com/content/e74dfe88-b372-4b57-9d7d-1a26004983bd