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The 2023 United States banking crisis was a series of bank failures and bankruptcies that took place in early 2023, with the
United States federal government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...
ultimately intervening in several ways. Over the course of five days in March 2023, three small-to-mid size U.S. banks failed, triggering a sharp decline in global bank stock prices and swift response by regulators to prevent potential global contagion.
Silicon Valley Bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a commercial bank division of First Citizens BancShares. The bank was previously the primary subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, a Public company, publicly traded bank holding company that had offices in 15 U.S. state ...
(SVB) failed when a
bank run A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many Client (business), clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe Bank failure, the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking sys ...
was triggered after it sold its
Treasury bond United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government bond, government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as a supplement to taxation. Sinc ...
portfolio at a large loss, causing depositor concerns about the bank's
liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity In business, economics or investment, market liquidity is a market's feature whereby an individual or firm can quic ...
. The bonds had lost significant value as market interest rates rose after the bank had shifted its portfolio to longer-maturity bonds. The bank's clientele was primarily technology companies and wealthy individuals holding large deposits, but balances exceeding $250,000 were not insured by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...
(FDIC).
Silvergate Bank Silvergate Bank was a California bank founded in 1988. The company began providing services for cryptocurrency users in 2016, and conducted an IPO in 2019. In November 2022, concerns were raised about Silvergate's health, after a fall in cryptoc ...
and
Signature Bank Signature Bank was an American full-service commercial bank headquartered in New York City and with 40 private client offices in the states of New York, Connecticut, California, Nevada, and North Carolina. In addition to banking products, sp ...
, both with significant exposure to
cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...
, failed in the midst of turbulence in that market. In response to the bank failures, the three major U.S. federal bank regulators announced in a joint
communiqué A press release (also known as a media release) is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing new information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public releas ...
that extraordinary measures would be taken to ensure that all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank would be honored. The
Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...
established a Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) to offer loans of up to one year to eligible
depository institution Colloquially, a depository institution is a financial institution in the United States (such as a savings bank, commercial bank, savings and loan associations, or credit unions) that is legally allowed to accept monetary deposits from consumer ...
s pledging qualifying assets as collateral. To prevent the situation from affecting more banks, global industry regulators, including the Federal Reserve, the
Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; ) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surve ...
,
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
,
Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The said bank is a corporate entity ...
,
European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
, and
Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; ; ; ; ) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy and the sole issuer of Swiss franc banknotes. The primary goal of its mandate is to ensure price stability, while taking econ ...
intervened to provide extraordinary liquidity. By March 16, large interbank flows of funds were occurring to shore up bank balance sheets and some analysts were talking of a possibly broader U.S.
banking crisis A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks normally only ...
. The Federal Reserve
discount window Discount may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Discount (band), punk rock band that formed in Vero Beach, Florida in 1995 and disbanded in 2000 * ''Discount'' (film), French comedy-drama film * "Discounts" (song), 2020 single by American rapper C ...
liquidity facility had experienced approximately $150 billion in borrowing from various banks by March 16. Soon after the bank run at SVB, depositors quickly began withdrawing cash from San Francisco-based
First Republic Bank First Republic Bank was a commercial bank and provider of wealth management services headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It catered to high-net-worth individuals and operated 93 offices in 11 states, primarily in New Yor ...
(FRB), which focused on
private banking Private banking is a general description for banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks and financial institutions primarily serving high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) – those with very high income or substantial asset ...
to wealthy clientele. Like SVB, FRB had substantial uninsured deposits exceeding $250,000; such deposits constituted 68% of the bank's total at year-end 2022, declining to 27% by the end of March, as $100 billion in uninsured deposits were withdrawn. Despite a $30 billion capital infusion from a group of major banks in March, FRB continued to destabilize and its stock price plummeted as the FDIC prepared to take it into receivership and find a buyer on April 29. On May 1, the
FDIC The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...
announced that First Republic had been closed and sold to
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...
.


Background

In the lead-up period, many banks within the United States had invested their reserves in U.S. Treasury securities, which had been paying low interest rates for several years. As the
Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...
began raising interest rates in 2022 in response to the 2021–2022 inflation surge, bond prices declined, decreasing the market value of bank capital reserves, causing some banks to incur unrealized losses; to maintain liquidity, Silicon Valley Bank sold its bonds to realize steep losses. Also, several banks gained
market exposure In finance, market exposure (or exposure) is a measure of the proportion of money invested in the same industry sector. For example, a stock portfolio with a total worth of $500,000, with $100,000 in semiconductor A semiconductor is a mater ...
to cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency-related firms prior to and during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
; the 2020–2022 cryptocurrency bubble popped in late 2022. In this environment, three such banks failed or were shut down by
regulators Regulator may refer to: Technology * Regulator (automatic control), a device that maintains a designated characteristic, as in: ** Battery regulator ** Pressure regulator ** Diving regulator ** Voltage regulator * Regulator (sewer), a control de ...
: The first bank to fail, cryptocurrency-focused
Silvergate Bank Silvergate Bank was a California bank founded in 1988. The company began providing services for cryptocurrency users in 2016, and conducted an IPO in 2019. In November 2022, concerns were raised about Silvergate's health, after a fall in cryptoc ...
, announced it would wind down on March 8, 2023, due to losses suffered in its loan portfolio. Two days later, upon announcement of an attempt to raise capital, a
bank run A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many Client (business), clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe Bank failure, the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking sys ...
occurred at
Silicon Valley Bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a commercial bank division of First Citizens BancShares. The bank was previously the primary subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, a Public company, publicly traded bank holding company that had offices in 15 U.S. state ...
, causing it to collapse and be seized by regulators that day.
Signature Bank Signature Bank was an American full-service commercial bank headquartered in New York City and with 40 private client offices in the states of New York, Connecticut, California, Nevada, and North Carolina. In addition to banking products, sp ...
, a bank that frequently did business with cryptocurrency firms, was closed by regulators two days later on March 12, with regulators citing
systemic risk In finance, systemic risk is the risk of collapse of an entire financial system or entire market, as opposed to the risk associated with any one individual entity, group or component of a system, that can be contained therein without harming the ...
s. The collapses of First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were the second-, third- and fourth- largest bank failures in the history of the United States, respectively, smaller only than the collapse of
Washington Mutual Washington Mutual, Inc. (often abbreviated to WaMu) was an American Bank holding company, savings bank holding company based in Seattle. It was the parent company of Washington Mutual Bank, which was the largest savings and loan association in ...
during the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
. In 2019, the Federal Reserve's "Tailoring rules" changed, increasing minimum asset threshold from $50 billion to $100 billion and reduced the number of required stress testing scenarios, allowing banks with under $100 billion to have reduced liquidity standards. Signature Bank and First Republic Bank were under the $100 billion total assets for the Federal Reserve's tailoring rules, allowing the banks to have reduced regulation for liquidity. Some have questioned if First Republic Bank would have had a bank run if there were similar regulation to EU countries in the United States.


Liquidation of Silvergate Bank


Background

Silvergate Bank Silvergate Bank was a California bank founded in 1988. The company began providing services for cryptocurrency users in 2016, and conducted an IPO in 2019. In November 2022, concerns were raised about Silvergate's health, after a fall in cryptoc ...
was a California-based bank that began operations in 1988 as a
savings and loan association A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. While the terms "S&L" and "thrift" are mainly used in the United States, ...
. In the 2010s, the bank began to provide banking services to players within the
cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...
market. The bank sought regulatory approval in the summer of 2014 to do business with cryptocurrency firms. The bank expanded the assets on its balance sheet significantly—doubling its assets in its 2017 fiscal year to $1.9 billion—by servicing
cryptocurrency exchange A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may acce ...
s and other companies who were involved in the cryptocurrency business that could not secure financing from larger, more conservative banks. Despite its rapid growth, the company maintained a small physical footprint; , the bank had only three branches, all located in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
. By the fourth quarter of 2022, 90% of the bank's deposits had become cryptocurrency-related, with over $1 billion in deposits being tied to
Sam Bankman-Fried Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried (born March 5, 1992), commonly known as SBF, is an American entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud and related crimes in November 2023. Bankman-Fried founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and was celebrated as a ...
. In addition to providing traditional banking services to its cryptocurrency clients, the bank operated as a clearinghouse for its banking clients; it involved itself in the business of resolving and
settling Settling is the process by which particulates move towards the bottom of a liquid and form a sediment. Particles that experience a force, either due to gravity or due to Centrifuge, centrifugal motion will tend to move in a uniform manner in the ...
transactions in real-time through its proprietary Silvergate Exchange Network. The network allowed a client to send payments in U.S. dollars from its accounts with Silvergate to those of another client of the bank without requiring an interbank
wire transfer Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash ...
. A large number of cryptocurrency companies set up accounts with the bank to take advantage of Silvergate's relatively quick transaction settling times. Despite conducting the majority of its business with cryptocurrency companies, Silvergate's
investment portfolio In finance, a portfolio is a collection of investments. Definition The term "portfolio" refers to any combination of financial assets such as stocks, bonds and cash. Portfolios may be held by individual investors or managed by financial profess ...
was fairly conservative; the company took large positions in
mortgage-backed securities A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an "Financial instrument, instrument") which is secured by a mortgage loan, mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals ( ...
as well as
U.S. bonds United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as a supplement to taxation. Since 2012, the U.S. ...
. These sorts of assets, while reliable to be paid-in-full through their
maturity date Maturity or immaturity may refer to: * Adulthood or age of majority * Maturity model ** Capability Maturity Model, in software engineering, a model representing the degree of formality and optimization of processes in an organization * Developme ...
, carry risks associated with changes in
interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...
s; there is an inverse relationship between the
mark-to-market Mark-to-market (MTM or M2M) or fair value accounting is accounting for the "fair value" of an asset or liability based on the current market price, or the price for similar assets and liabilities, or based on another objectively assessed "fair" ...
value of a bond and the bond's yield. As interest rates shot up during the
2021–2023 inflation surge Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a worldwide surge in inflation began in mid-2021 and lasted until mid-2022. Many countries saw their highest inflation rates in decades. It has been attributed to various causes, including pandemic-related ...
, the mark-to-market price of these securities decreased significantly. When these losses are unrealized, this does not typically cause the bank to cease operating, as the bank will receive payment-in-full under the original terms of the bond. However, if forced to sell these securities at a lower mark-to-market price, the losses on these types of assets become realized, posing significant risks to the bank's ability to continue to operate.


Events

Silvergate was hit with a
bank run A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many Client (business), clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe Bank failure, the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking sys ...
in the wake of the
bankruptcy of FTX The bankruptcy of FTX, a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange, began in November 2022. The collapse of FTX, caused by a spike in customer withdrawals that exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX's accounts, served as the impetus for its bankruptcy. ...
; deposits from cryptocurrency-related firms dropped by 68% at the bank, with the bank facing requests from its clients to withdraw upwards of $8 billion in deposits. As Silvergate did not have enough cash-on-hand to satisfy the deposit withdrawals, the bank began to sell its assets at a steep loss; the company realized a loss of $718 million on withdrawal-related asset sales in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2022 alone. The bank, in a public statement, said that it was solvent at the end of Q4 2022, with an asset sheet containing assets of $4.6 billion in cash and $5.6 billion in liquid debt securities, with $3.8 billion in deposit obligations. Silvergate faced tight financial constraints in the coming months, selling assets at a loss and borrowing $3.6 billion from the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco to maintain its liquidity. Silvergate wrote in a regulatory filing on March 1 that the bank risked losing its status as a well-capitalized bank and that the bank faced risks relating to its ability to continue operating. Facing continued losses from sales of securities at mark-to-market price, Silvergate released a
public notice A public notice is a form of notice given to the general public, public regarding certain types of legal proceedings. __TOC__ By government Public notices are issued by a government agency or legislative body in certain rulemaking or lawmaking p ...
on March 8, 2023, saying that it would undergo voluntary liquidation and would return all deposited funds to their respective owners.


Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank


Background

Silicon Valley Bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a commercial bank division of First Citizens BancShares. The bank was previously the primary subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, a Public company, publicly traded bank holding company that had offices in 15 U.S. state ...
(SVB) was a commercial bank founded in 1983 and headquartered in
Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...
. Until its collapse, SVB was the 16th largest bank in the United States and was heavily skewed toward serving companies and individuals from the technology industry. Nearly half of U.S.
venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
-backed healthcare and technology companies were financed by SVB. Companies such as
Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...
,
Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...
,
Fitbit Fitbit is a product lining, line of wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate, quality of sleep, and stairs climbed as well as related soft ...
,
Pinterest Pinterest is an American social media service for publishing and discovery of information in the form of digital Bulletin board, pinboards. This includes recipes, home, style, motivation, and inspiration on the Internet using image sharing. Pint ...
, and
Block, Inc. Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.) is an American technology company and a financial services provider for consumers and merchants. Founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, it is the U.S. market leader in Point of sale, point-of-sale systems. As of 20 ...
have been clients of the bank. In addition to financing venture-backed companies, SVB was well known as a source of
private banking Private banking is a general description for banking, investment and other financial services provided by banks and financial institutions primarily serving high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) – those with very high income or substantial asset ...
, personal credit lines, and mortgages to tech entrepreneurs. According to the
FDIC The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...
, it had $209 billion in assets at the end of 2022. Silicon Valley Bank recorded an increase of its deposit holdings during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, when the tech sector experienced a period of growth. In 2021, it purchased long-term
Treasury bonds United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as a supplement to taxation. Since 2012, the U.S. ...
to capitalize on the increased deposits. However, the current market value of these bonds decreased as the
Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...
raised
interest rates An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...
to curb the
2021–2023 inflation surge Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a worldwide surge in inflation began in mid-2021 and lasted until mid-2022. Many countries saw their highest inflation rates in decades. It has been attributed to various causes, including pandemic-related ...
. Higher interest rates also raised borrowing costs throughout the economy and some Silicon Valley Bank clients started pulling money out to meet their liquidity needs.


Events

To raise cash to pay withdrawals by its depositors, SVB announced on March 8 that it had sold over US$21 billion worth of securities, borrowed US$15billion, and would hold an emergency sale of some of its
treasury stock A treasury stock or reacquired stock is stock which is bought back by the issuing company, reducing the amount of outstanding stock on the open market ("open market" including insiders' holdings). Stock repurchases are used as a tax efficien ...
to raise US$2.25billion. The announcement, coupled with warnings from prominent Silicon Valley investors, caused a bank run as customers withdrew funds totaling US$42billion by the following day. On March 10, 2023, as a result of the bank run, the
California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (abbreviated DFPI; formerly the Department of Business Oversight, DBO) regulates a variety of financial services, businesses, products, and professionals. The department operates und ...
(DFPI) seized SVB and placed it under the receivership of the FDIC. The FDIC established a deposit insurance national bank, the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara, to service insured deposits and announced that it would start paying dividends for uninsured deposits the following week; the dividends were funded by proceeds from the sale of SVB assets. Some 89 percent of the bank's US$172billion in deposit liabilities exceeded the maximum insured by the FDIC. Two days after the failure, the FDIC received exceptional authority from the Treasury and announced jointly with other agencies that all depositors would have full access to their funds the next morning. An initial auction of Silicon Valley Bank assets on the same day attracted a single bid, after
PNC Financial Services The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District of Columbia, with 2,629 ...
and
RBC Bank RBC Bank is the trading name of RBC Bank (Georgia), N.A., the United States–based retail banking division of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) which is targeted toward Canadian snowbirds, expatriates, and frequent tourists. Despite its limited re ...
backed away from making offers. The FDIC rejected this offer and planned to hold a second auction to attract bids from major banks, now that the bank's
systemic risk In finance, systemic risk is the risk of collapse of an entire financial system or entire market, as opposed to the risk associated with any one individual entity, group or component of a system, that can be contained therein without harming the ...
designation allowed the FDIC to insure all deposits. The bank was later reopened as a newly organized
bridge bank A bridge bank is an institution created by a national regulator or central bank to operate a failed bank until a buyer can be found. While national laws vary, the bridge bank is usually established by a publicly backed deposit insurance organis ...
, Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A. On March 26, 2023, the FDIC announced that
First Citizens BancShares First Citizens Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company based in Raleigh, North Carolina and one of the largest banks in the United States. Its primary subsidiary is First Citizens Bank, which operates over 500 branches in 23 states. A second ...
would acquire the commercial banking business of SVB. As part of the deal, First Citizens brought around $56.5billion in deposits and $72billion of SVB's loans discounted by $16.5billion, while around $90billion of SVB's securities continue to remain in receivership. The FDIC received about $500million-worth of equity appreciation rights linked to First Citizens' shares. SVB's 17branches reopened under the First Citizens brand the next day, with all SVB depositors becoming depositors of First Citizens. SVB Private was initially going to be auctioned separately but First Citizens later acquired the business as well. The UK arm of SVB was acquired by
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...
, which announced it would rename the business to HSBC Innovation Banking.


Collapse of Signature Bank


Background

Signature Bank Signature Bank was an American full-service commercial bank headquartered in New York City and with 40 private client offices in the states of New York, Connecticut, California, Nevada, and North Carolina. In addition to banking products, sp ...
was a
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
-based bank founded in 2001. The bank began as a subsidiary of
Bank Hapoalim Bank Hapoalim ( lit. ''The Workers' Bank'') is one of the largest banks in Israel, established in 1921. The bank offers a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate, and institutional customers, with a focus on retail banking services. ...
that took on clients with assets of around $250,000, lending to small businesses based in New York City and in the surrounding metropolitan area. The bank provided financing within the
multifamily residential Multifamily residential, also known as multidwelling unit (MDU), is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units can ...
rental housing market in the New York metropolitan area beginning in 2007, though it began to reduce its exposure to the market during the 2010s. By 2019, just over four-tenths of the value of the bank's loans were made to multifamily homeowners in the New York metropolitan area, comprising $15.8 billion of the bank's then-$38.9 billion in net loans. Beginning in 2018, Signature Bank began to court customers in the cryptocurrency industry, securing hires that were experienced in the area with the goal of moving away from its dependence on real estate lending. The quantity of deposits held at the bank expanded significantly, with deposits increasing from about $36.3 billion at the end of the 2018 fiscal year to $104 billion by August 2022; that month, over one-quarter of the bank's deposits held were those of cryptocurrency companies. Its cryptocurrency-sector clients included large cryptocurrency exchange operators, such as Celsius Network and
Binance Binance Holdings Ltd., branded Binance, is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, a developer who had previously created high-frequency trading ...
. By early 2023, Signature Bank had become the second largest provider of banking services to the cryptocurrency industry—second only to Silvergate Bank. In addition to providing traditional banking services to cryptocurrency clients, Signature Bank opened a proprietary payment network for use among its cryptocurrency clients. The payment network, Signet, had opened in 2019 for approved clients, and allowed the
real-time gross settlement Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems are specialist funds transfer systems where the transfer of money or securities takes place from one bank to any other bank on a "real-time" and on a " gross" basis to avoid settlement risk. Settlement ...
of fund transfers through the
blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...
without third parties or transaction fees. By the conclusion of 2020, Signature Bank had 740 clients using Signet. The network continued to expand during the following years; both
Coinbase Coinbase Global, Inc. is an American cryptocurrency exchange. It was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam. Coinbase has over 100 million users, and is the largest U.S. based cryptocurrency exchange as well as the world's bigge ...
and the TrueUSD dollar-pegged
stablecoin A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency where the value of the digital asset is supposed to be pegged to a reference asset, which is either fiat money, exchange-traded commodities (such as precious metals or industrial metals), or another cry ...
had become integrated with Signet in 2022 and 2021, respectively.


Events

As cryptocurrency prices dropped significantly in 2022, particularly so after the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, depositors in Signature Bank began to withdraw deposits in the tune of billions of dollars; by the end of 2022, deposits in the bank totaled around $88.6 billion, down from $106.1 billion in deposits held at the beginning of the year—a time when over one-quarter of deposits were held by digital asset-related entities. Towards the end of 2022, Signature Bank cut business ties with cryptocurrency exchange Binance, seeking to reduce the bank's exposure to risk associated with the cryptocurrency market. According to Signature Bank board member
Barney Frank Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a retired American politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Frank served as chairman of th ...
, Signature Bank was hit with a multi-billion dollar bank run on Friday, March 10, with depositors expressing concern about cryptocurrency-related risks affecting the bank. Investor confidence in the bank was also badly shaken, and the bank's stock declined by 23% on that Friday—the day on which Silicon Valley bank collapsed—marking the then-largest single-day decline of the Signature Bank's value in its 22-year history. On March 12, 2023, two days after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank was closed by regulators from the
New York State Department of Financial Services The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS or NYSDFS) is the department of the New York state government responsible for regulating financial services and products, including those subject to the New York insurance, banking and fin ...
in what is the third-biggest banking collapse in U.S. history. The bank proved unable to close a sale or otherwise bolster its finances before markets opened on Monday morning in order to protect its assets after customers began withdrawing their deposits in favor of bigger institutions, and shareholders of the bank lost all invested funds. The bank was placed under receivership by the FDIC, which immediately established Signature Bridge Bank, N.A. to operate its marketed assets to bidders. Signature Bank had been under multiple federal investigations, ongoing at the time of the bank's collapse, regarding the rigor of its anti-money laundering measures. The
U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...
had opened a criminal probe into whether the firm was performing due diligence when opening up new accounts and whether it was doing enough to detect and report potential criminal activity by its clients. The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...
had opened a separate, related civil probe. On March 19, the
New York Community Bank Flagstar Financial, Inc. (FLG), is an American regional financial services holding company headquartered in Hicksville, New York. In 2023, the bank operated 395 branches However, they rebranded all of these under the Flagstar name on February 2 ...
(NYCB) agreed to purchase around $38.4 billion in Signature's assets for $2.7 billion. Due to the deal, 40 Signature branches were rebranded to
Flagstar Bank Flagstar Bank is an American commercial bank headquartered in Troy, Michigan, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Flagstar Financial. The bank was founded in 1987 and operated as a consumer and commercial bank, mortgage lender, and offered financial ...
, one of NYCB's subsidiaries.


Collapse of First Republic Bank


Background

First Republic Bank First Republic Bank was a commercial bank and provider of wealth management services headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. It catered to high-net-worth individuals and operated 93 offices in 11 states, primarily in New Yor ...
(FRB) was based in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
as a
commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...
and provider of
wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-hi ...
services. It catered to
high-net-worth individual In the financial services industry, a high-net-worth individual (HNWI) is a person who maintains liquid assets at or above a certain threshold. Typically the criterion is that the person's financial assets (excluding their primary residence) are ...
s and operated 93 offices in 11 states, primarily in New York, California, Massachusetts, and Florida. It was the 14th largest U.S. bank at the end of 2022.


Events

Intense scrutiny and pressure were applied to other U.S. banks, including FRB. On March 13, its shares fell by 62%. As the bank faced significant liquidity issues, on March 16, it received a $30 billion lifeline in the form of deposits from a number of major U.S. banks, on top of a $70 billion financing facility provided by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Eleven of the largest U.S. banks participated in the rescue effort, under the direction of
Jamie Dimon James Dimon ( ; born March 13, 1956) is an American businessman who has been the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of JPMorgan Chase since 2006. Dimon began his career as a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group. After earnin ...
. On March 19,
S&P Global S&P Global Inc. (prior to 2016, McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013, The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financia ...
downgraded the credit rating of First Republic Bank further into junk by three notches saying that the private-sector rescue effort "may not solve the substantial business, liquidity, funding, and profitability challenges that we believe the bank is now likely facing." In its quarterly report in April, the bank said that deposits had plunged by more than $100 billion. The announcement caused the bank's share price to fall by more than 20%. On April 28, the bank announced plans to begin selling its bonds and securities at a loss to raise equity and also begin laying off people. Multiple advisor teams began to leave the bank as well. On that day, it was announced that the FDIC was considering seizing the bank, causing its stock price to plunge another 43% to $3.50. After falling another 42% in after hours trading, the FDIC confirmed its imminent takeover of the bank. In 2023, the cumulative decrease in stock price was 97%. The next day, the FDIC approached various banks, including
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...
, PNC and
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...
, saying they had until April 30 to place bids for First Republic Bank. On the morning of May 1, the
California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (abbreviated DFPI; formerly the Department of Business Oversight, DBO) regulates a variety of financial services, businesses, products, and professionals. The department operates und ...
announced that FRB had been closed, and its assets were sold to JPMorgan for $10.6 billion.


Aftermath


Bank Term Funding Program

In response to the bank failures of March, the government took extraordinary measures to mitigate fallout across the banking sector. On March 12, Federal Reserve created the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP), an emergency lending program providing loans of up to one year in length to banks,
savings associations A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. While the terms "S&L" and "thrift" are mainly used in the United States, ...
,
credit union A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (che ...
s, and other eligible
depository institution Colloquially, a depository institution is a financial institution in the United States (such as a savings bank, commercial bank, savings and loan associations, or credit unions) that is legally allowed to accept monetary deposits from consumer ...
s. The program was designed to provide liquidity to financial institutions following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other bank failures, and to reduce the risks associated with current unrealized losses in the U.S. banking system that totaled over $600 billion at the time of the program's launch. Funded through the
Deposit Insurance Fund The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was created by the Banking Act of 1933, enacted dur ...
, the program offered loans of up to one year to eligible borrowers who pledged as collateral certain types of
securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...
including
U.S. Treasuries United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as a supplement to taxation. Since 2012, the U.S. ...
,
agency debt Agency debt, also known as an agency bond, agency loan, agency security, or "Agencies", is a security, usually a bond, issued by a United States government-sponsored enterprise or federal budget agency. The offerings of these agencies are backed ...
, and
mortgage-backed securities A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an "Financial instrument, instrument") which is secured by a mortgage loan, mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals ( ...
. The collateral was valued at
par Par may refer to: Finance * Par value, stated value or face value in finance and accounting * Par yield or par rate, in finance Games * Par (score), the number of strokes a proficient golfer should require to complete a hole, round or tournament ...
instead of open-market value, so a bank could borrow on asset values that have not been impaired by a series of interest rate hikes since 2022. The Federal Reserve also eased conditions at its
discount window Discount may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Discount (band), punk rock band that formed in Vero Beach, Florida in 1995 and disbanded in 2000 * ''Discount'' (film), French comedy-drama film * "Discounts" (song), 2020 single by American rapper C ...
. The Department of the Treasury said it would make available up to $25billion from its
Exchange Stabilization Fund The Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) is an emergency reserve fund of the United States Treasury Department, normally used for foreign exchange intervention. This arrangement (as opposed to having the central bank intervene directly) allows the US ...
as a backstop for the program. In January 2024, the Federal Reserve raised the interest rate on new BTFP loans, stating loans outstanding in the program as of January 17 were $161.5 billion. The program ceased offering new loans on March 11, 2024.


Government discussion of other funding

In addition to working with their counterparts at the FDIC and U.S. Treasury to provide liquidity to banks through the BTFP, by March 2023, the Federal Reserve had begun to internally discuss implementing stricter capital reserve and liquidity requirements for banks with between $100 billion and $250 billion in assets on their balance sheets. A review of regulations affecting regional banks had been ongoing since 2022, as Federal Reserve vice chairman Michael Barr and other officials in the
Biden Administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...
had become increasingly concerned about the risk posed to the financial system by the rapidly increasing size of regional banks.


U.S. investigations

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank itself also spurred federal investigations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the United States Department of Justice. Within the scope of both probes is the sales of stock made by senior officers of Silicon Valley Bank shortly before the bank failed, while the SEC's investigation also includes a review of past financial-related and other risk-related disclosures made by Silicon Valley Bank to evaluate their accuracy and completeness. Internal investigations at the FDIC and Federal Reserve noted that deregulation, not subjecting medium-sized banks to high scrutiny, reduced enforcement of remaining regulations, and government staffing shortages weakened oversight and allowed mismanagement of banks to cause their collapse.


Economic impact

As depositors began to move money ''en masse'' from smaller banks to larger banks, on Monday, March 13, shares of regional banks fell. Following SVB and Signature's collapses,
Western Alliance Bancorporation Western Alliance Bancorporation is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Phoenix. It is on the list of largest banks in the United States and is ranked 97th on the Forbes list of America's Best Banks. The company's banking subsidi ...
share price fell 47% and
PacWest Bancorp PacWest Bancorp is an American bank holding company based in Beverly Hills, California, with one wholly owned banking subsidiary, Pacific Western Bank. It is a subsidiary of Banc of California. It has 69 branches in California, primarily in the ...
was down 21% recovering after their trading was halted.
Moody's Moody's Ratings, previously and still legally known as Moody's Investors Service and often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its histo ...
downgraded its outlook on the U.S. banking system to negative, citing what it described as "rapid deterioration" of the sector's financial footing. It also downgraded the
credit ratings A credit rating is an evaluation of the credit risk of a prospective debtor (an individual, a business, company or a government). It is the practice of predicting or forecasting the ability of a supposed debtor to pay back the debt or default. The ...
of several regional banks, including Western Alliance, First Republic, Intrust Bank,
Comerica Comerica Incorporated is an American financial services company, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is the parent of Comerica Bank, a regional commercial bank with 413 branches in the U.S. states of Texas, Michigan, California, Florida and Arizon ...
,
UMB Financial Corporation UMB Financial Corporation is an American financial services company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. It offers comprehensive financial services, including deposit solutions like checking and savings accounts, credit services including hom ...
, and
Zions Bancorporation Zions Bancorporation is an American national bank headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It operates as a national bank rather than as a bank holding company and does business under the following seven brands: Zions Bank, Amegy Bank of Texa ...
. Large declines in regional bank stocks continued after First Republic's failure. U.S. President
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
made a statement about the first three bank failures on March 13, and asserted that government intervention was not a bailout and that the banking system was stable. The initial bank failures led to speculation on March 13 that the Federal Reserve could pause or halt rate hikes. Beginning on March 13, traders began modifying their strategies in the expectation that fewer hikes than previously expected would occur. Some financial experts suggested that the BTFP, combined with a recent practice of finding buyers who would cover all deposits, may have effectively removed the FDIC's $250,000 deposit insurance limit. However, Treasury Secretary
Janet Yellen Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist who served as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury from 2021 to 2025. She also served as chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She was the first woman to h ...
clarified that any guarantee beyond that limit would need the approval of the Biden administration and Federal regulators. The initial three bank failures and resulting pressures on other U.S. regional banks were expected to reduce available financing in the
commercial real estate Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office bu ...
market and further slow commercial property development. The Federal Reserve's
discount window Discount may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Discount (band), punk rock band that formed in Vero Beach, Florida in 1995 and disbanded in 2000 * ''Discount'' (film), French comedy-drama film * "Discounts" (song), 2020 single by American rapper C ...
liquidity facility saw around $150 billion in borrowing from various banks by March 16, more than 12 times the $12 billion that the BTFP provided. Since the majority of First Republic's long term assets were in
municipal bond A municipal bond, commonly known as a muni, is a bond issued by state or local governments, or entities they create such as authorities and special districts. In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal bonds is often ...
s, it was unable to make full use of the BTFP as those assets did not qualify as an eligible collateral. By March 16, large inter-bank flows of funds were occurring to shore up bank balance sheets and numerous analysts were reporting on a more general U.S.
banking crisis A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks normally only ...
. Many banks had invested their reserves in U.S. Treasury securities, which had been paying low interest rates. As the Federal Reserve began raising rates in 2022, bond prices declined decreasing the market value of bank capital reserves, leading some banks to sell the bonds at steep losses as yields on new bonds were much higher. On March 17, President Joe Biden stated that the banking crisis had calmed down, while ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' said that the March banking crisis was hanging over the economy and had rekindled fear of recession as business borrowing would become more difficult as many regional and community banks would have to reduce lending. Late on Sunday, the Federal Reserve and several other central banks announced significant USD liquidity measures in order to calm market turmoil. In a "coordinated action to enhance the provision of liquidity through the standing U.S. dollar swap line arrangements", the U.S. Federal Reserve, the
Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; ) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surve ...
,
Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The said bank is a corporate entity ...
,
European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
, and
Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; ; ; ; ) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy and the sole issuer of Swiss franc banknotes. The primary goal of its mandate is to ensure price stability, while taking econ ...
joined to organize daily U.S. dollar swap operations. These swaps had previously been set up to occur on a weekly cadence. The share price of PacWest had fallen sharply on 3 May after the bank announced that it was 'considering strategic options including a sale'. On 4 May share trading was suspended as the sell-off marked a further 42% loss with other US regional banks, including First Horizon, Metropolitan Bank and
Western Alliance The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath ...
, also being affected. In May 2023, FDIC proposed imposing higher fees on an estimated 113 of the largest banks to cover the costs of bailing out uninsured depositors.


International impact

By 19 March, concerns about the banking sector internationally had increased. That day, Swiss bank UBS Group AG bought its smaller competitor
Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...
in an emergency arrangement brokered by the Swiss government. One month before the events in the United States, Credit Suisse had announced its largest annual loss since the
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, as clients continued withdrawing their cash at a rapid pace; $147 billion had been withdrawn in the fourth quarter of 2022. It also disclosed it had found "material weaknesses" in its financial reporting. Its largest investor,
Saudi National Bank Saudi National Bank (SNB; ), also known as SNB AlAhli, formerly known as The National Commercial Bank (NCB), is the largest commercial bank in Saudi Arabia. In April 2021, National Commercial Bank merged with Samba Financial Group under the nam ...
, announced on March 15 that it would not provide more support to Credit Suisse. Its share price plunged 25% on the news and UBS stepped in to buy the bank.
Axel Lehmann Axel P. Lehmann (born 1959) is a Swiss business executive. From January 2022 to June 2023, he was chairman of the Credit Suisse Group. Early life Lehmann was born in 1959, and is a Swiss citizen. He earned an MBA and a PhD from the University ...
, former chairman of the bank, later sought to blame the American bank failures for triggering Credit Suisse's demise, though other analysts disputed that characterization. The bank had experienced many years of multi-billion dollar losses, scandals, executive turnover and weak business strategy. Late on Sunday the Federal Reserve and several other
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
s announced significant USD liquidity measures in order to calm market turmoil. In a "coordinated action to enhance the provision of liquidity through the standing U.S. dollar swap line arrangements", the U.S. Federal Reserve, the
Bank of Canada The Bank of Canada (BoC; ) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and Canada's central bank. Chartered in 1934 under the ''Bank of Canada Act'', it is responsible for formulating Canada's monetary policy,OECD. OECD Economic Surve ...
,
Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The said bank is a corporate entity ...
,
European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#International ...
(ECB) and
Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; ; ; ; ) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy and the sole issuer of Swiss franc banknotes. The primary goal of its mandate is to ensure price stability, while taking econ ...
joined to organize daily U.S. dollar swap operations. These swaps had previously been set up to occur on a weekly cadence. On 21 March, '' The Business Times'' reported that Asian central banks were "unlikely to be greatly influenced by the banking crisis in the United States and Europe", but Australia's central bank governors met and publicly indicated a potential pause in recent rate hikes. ''ABC News'' reported that the challenge for central banks is determining if the "banking turmoil close to crashing the real economy, or is inflation still the greater threat." In Japan the three main lenders,
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG was created in 2005 by merger between and UFJ Holdings (株式会社UFJホールディングス; ''kabushikigaisha yūefujei hōrudingusu'' ...
,
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group , initialed as SMFG until 2018 and SMBC Group since, is a major Japanese multinational financial services group and holding company. It is the parent of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), SMBC Trust Bank, and SMBC Nikko Securities. SMB ...
and
Mizuho Financial Group The , known from 2000 to 2003 as Mizuho Holdings and abbreviated as MHFG or simply Mizuho, is a Japanese banking holding company headquartered in the Ōtemachi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group was formed in 2000-2002 by merger of Dai- ...
, lost share value between 10% and 12% due to the market turmoil and their exposure to the bond market. Japan's
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
held a crisis meeting in mid-March while the
Topix The , commonly known as the TOPIX, is an important stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) in Japan, along with the Nikkei 225. The TOPIX tracks the entire market of domestic companies and covers most stocks in the Tokyo Stock Exc ...
banks index fell 17%. The fall was led by fears over the SVB collapse and the risks in Japan's regional banking sector, partly because of exposure to US interest rate hikes. The cost to insure against default on
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. ...
debt rose substantially on Friday, 24 March, with the 5-year
CDS CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...
for the bank's debt rising 70%. The ECB and other European central banks raised interest rates the same day. The European
STOXX 600 The STOXX Europe 600, also called STOXX 600, SXXP, is a stock index of European stocks designed by STOXX Ltd. This index has a fixed number of 600 components representing large-, mid- and small-capitalization companies among 17 European countrie ...
index fell around 4% with shares in Deutsche Bank down more than 14% at one point, closing the day at a loss of around 8%. The UK's banking index also fell around 3% led by falls of around 6% for both
Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...
and
Standard Chartered Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in th ...
and a 4% drop for
NatWest National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major Retail banking, retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the Corporate merger, merger of National Provincial Bank and We ...
. Shares in other European banks also fell, among them
Commerzbank The Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft (shortly known as Commerzbank AG or Commerzbank ) is a European Financial institution, banking institution headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany. It offers services to private and entrepreneurial c ...
, Austria's Raiffeisen Bank and the French
Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...
. According to the European Commission's
Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who was European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. He had previously served as prime minister of Italy ...
, finance ministers in the Euro zone called on the commission to close loopholes in Crisis Management and Deposit Insurance (CMDI) provision, starting in the second quarter of 2023. Chinese banks experienced little negative effect. According to ''
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg T ...
'', almost all of the 166 top performers during the market turmoil were in China. The banking crisis in the U.S. and Europe highlighted the relative stability of the Chinese banking system. While China's recovery from the pandemic remains fragile, inflation there is muted, and the
People's Bank of China The People's Bank of China (officially PBC and unofficially PBOC) is the central bank of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for carrying out monetary policy as determined by the ''PRC People's Bank Law'' and the ''PRC Commercia ...
had adjusted interest rates at a slower pace than Western central banks. The turbulence in the financial system caused India's
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
to put any further hikes in interest rate on hold on 6 April, with governor
Shaktikanta Das Shaktikanta Das (born 26 February 1957) is a retired People of India, Indian bureaucrat and Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer who served as the 25th List of Governors of Reserve Bank of India, governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Sinc ...
saying "it's a pause not a pivot". A 25 basis point increase had been widely expected. Central banks in Australia, Canada and Indonesia also paused any further increases. While rising interest rates give banks greater returns on customer's loans, the tighter financial conditions meant the sector saw a downturn in equity funding, with the S&P 500 bank index (SPXBK) in April down 14% year to date on expectation of lower quarterly earnings for some US banks. Effects on the secondary market were also expected. On 11 April the
International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...
downgraded its forecast for GDP growth globally in 2023 from 2.9% to 2.8%, saying "Uncertainty is high and the balance of risks has shifted firmly to the downside so long as the financial sector remains unsettled". The forecast marked a slowdown from 3.4% in 2022, but predicted growth could rise modestly to 3.0% in 2024. The
IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...
had been cutting its forecast since spring 2022.


See also

*
List of banks acquired or bankrupted in the United States during the 2008 financial crisis This is a list of banks in the United States affected by the 2008 financial crisis. The list includes banks (including commercial banks, investment banks, and savings and loan associations) that have: * been taken over or merged with another fin ...
*
List of bank failures in the United States (2008–present) On average, between 1980 and 1994, a US bank failed every three days. The pace of bankruptcies peaked immediately after the 2008 financial crisis. The 2008 financial crisis led to many bank failures in the United States. The Federal Deposit Insu ...
*
Inverted yield curve In finance, an inverted yield curve is a yield curve in which short-term debt instruments (typically bonds) have a greater yield than longer term bonds. An inverted yield curve is an unusual phenomenon; bonds with shorter maturities generally ...
* Yield curve control *
1991 Indian economic crisis The 1991 Indian economic crisis was an economic crisis in India resulting from a balance of payments deficit due to excess reliance on imports and other external factors. India's economic problems started worsening in 1985 as imports swelled, le ...
*
Stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a major cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic selling and underlying economic factors. They often fol ...
* Stock market crashes in India *
List of stock market crashes and bear markets This is a list of stock market and bear markets. The difference between the two relies on speed (how fast declines occur) and length (how long they last). Stock market crashes are quick and brief, while bear markets are slow and prolonged. Those ...
*
Norinchukin Bank The , also referred to as Nochu Bank, is a Japanese cooperative bank serving over 5,612 agricultural, fishing and forestry cooperatives from its headquarters in Tokyo. Nochu is one of Japan's largest institutional investors with an investment ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banking crisis, 2023 2023 in economic history 2023 in San Francisco 2023 in New York City 21st century in Zurich 2023 disasters in Germany 2023 disasters in Switzerland 2023 disasters in the United States March 2023 in Germany March 2023 in Switzerland March 2023 in the United States May 2023 in the United States 2023 crisis Economic history of California Economic history of New York (state) Financial markets History of the Federal Reserve System History of Silicon Valley Presidency of Joe Biden