Banking giant HSBC agreed to buy the British arm of collapsed Silicon Valley Bank on Monday after all-night talks.
HSBC confirmed Monday morning that the British ring-fenced subsidiary, HSBC UK Bank, agreed to pay £1 ($1.21 at time of writing), CNBC reported. The only assets and liabilities excluded from the deal are those held by SVB’s British parent company.
HSBC CEO Noel Quinn said that the acquisition “strengthens our commercial banking franchise and enhances our ability to serve innovative and fast-growing firms, including in the technology and life-science sectors, in the U.K. and internationally,” CNBC noted. “SVB U.K. customers can continue to bank as usual, safe in the knowledge that their deposits are backed by the strength, safety and security of HSBC.”
Are more failures on the horizon? https://t.co/2olSMVbgzK
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 12, 2023
Regulators shut down SVB after its stock plummeted 60% on Thursday in premarket trading Friday. Fox News host Tucker Carlson described the institution’s collapse as similar to the “bank run” in 1929 or the more recent collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. (RELATED: Financial Expert Explains Why The Economy Is Collapsing In One Perfect Tweet)
The collapse is the largest of any bank since the 2008 global financial crisis, the BBC reported. The institution specialized in lending to technology companies. Some firms, such as Lingumi, an educational start-up, said that 85% of its cash was held in SVB, leading to an “anxious weekend,” the co-founder told the outlet.