The banking turmoil in the US

Janet Yellen. Mariam Zuhaib / AP  

The banking turmoil in the US  

Yellen assures: Banks are "resilient"  

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gathered regulators on Friday to discuss developments around Silicon Valley Bank, several media reports.  

Yellen stated that she has "full confidence" that regulators will take appropriate action. She added the U.S. banking system remains "resilient," according to a statement from the Treasury Department.  

US authorities shut down Silicon Valley Bank on Friday and have taken control of guaranteed deposits. The bank collapse is the largest that has occurred since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, writes Reuters.

Jeff Chiu / AP 

The banking turmoil in the US  

CEO sold big before collapse - leaves Fed in San Francisco  

A foundation owned by Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker sold shares for $3.6 million - the equivalent of SEK 37.6 million - shortly before the bank's collapse, the Wall Street Journal reports.  

On February 27, the foundation sold $3.6 million worth of stock while acquiring options worth $1.3 million. 

Reuters, in turn, reports that SVB's CEO resigned on Friday as a board member of the Federal Reserve in San Francisco, citing a spokesman for the central bank.  

Greg Becker has not commented on the data.

 

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The banking turmoil in the US  

Analysis: Pension blow and increased risk of stock market crash  

 

The banking sector fears a domino effect and, in the worst case, a new financial crisis. This is what SvD's Malin Ekman writes after the rapid fall of Silicon Valley Bank, which is counted as the second largest bank collapse in US history.  

 

When the venture capital market dried up, tech entrepreneurs began withdrawing money from SVB, while the value of the big bank's assets fell in line with rising interest rates. When SVB called for new capital, the market panicked. "

 

The collapse shows how quickly things can turn," writes Ekman.  

 

Sydsvenskan's Thomas Frostberg writes that the banking turmoil will have ripples on the waters far beyond the American west coast. 

 

"Even though it is too early to talk about a stock market crash, the risks have increased - and Swedish pension savings have already taken a billion pound hit," he writes, referring to Alecta's holdings in the crisis bank. 

 

The Great Depression forced the United States to tighten supervision of megabanks, while regional banks received a more lenient treatment, writes Shuli Ren in a Bloomberg analysis. It is "a blind spot in an otherwise healthy financial system".

 

Bloomberg's Paul J Davies writes in turn that the danger to the banking sector remains, especially for smaller players. However, we are far from a "storm in the system", he believes.