- Tim Mayopoulos, who regulators have appointed to run SVB, sent an email to clients Tuesday telling them the bank is “open for business.”
- Mayopoulos urged clients who have moved their deposits elsewhere to “please consider returning some as part of a safe deposit diversification strategy.”
- SVB was confiscated by regulators on Friday after a run on the 40-year-old banker.
A view of the Silicon Valley bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California, after the federal government intervened when the banks collapsed, on March 13, 2023.
Nicholas Leibniz | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The new SVB leader told agents in a Tuesday’s message that the forfeited bank was “open for business” and willing to take and hold customer deposits, and to invite venture capital firms and other technology clients home.
“If you, your portfolio companies, or your company have transferred money over the past week, please consider returning some as part of your safe deposit diversification strategy,” wrote Tim Myopoulos, who was appointed CEO by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The bank, now called Silicon Valley Bridge Bank.
In an email to clients also posted on the SVB website, Mayopoulos told the bank’s customer base that “depositors have full access to their funds,” adding that both new inflows and existing deposits are fully protected by the FDIC.
“The number one thing you can do to support the future of this institution is to help us rebuild our deposit base, both by leaving deposits at Silicon Valley Bridge Bank and converting deposits that have remained over the past several days,” Myopoulos wrote.
More than $40 billion in deposits exited SVB last week, as startups and investment funds fled the failing institution after a mid-quarter report showed it sold $21 billion worth of securities at a loss. The SVB failure was the second largest ever by a US bank, after the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual. Federal regulators stepped in over the weekend, ensuring depositors did not suffer losses as contagion threatened to spread to other banks.
In the post, Mayopoulos did not specify a threshold for FDIC protection, in line with comments from federal regulators that support would be structured “in a manner that fully protects all depositors.” The FDIC is only mandated to insure $250,000 worth of deposits for each customer.
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