Regulators swooped in the middle of the day to seize the bank’s assets, in a sign of how quickly the bank fell into trouble. Investors in London are said to be «spooked».
US regulators have shut down the country’s 16th largest bank, in the biggest collapse of a financial institution since the 2008 financial crisis.
Silicon Valley Bank failed after depositors — mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies — began withdrawing their money, creating a run on the bank.
The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has seized its assets.
It said the bank had $209 billion (£173 billion) in assets and $175.4 billion (£146 billion) in deposits at the time of failure.
It was unclear how many of the deposits were above the $250,000 dollar (£207,000) insurance limit.
The bank’s downfall marks the largest failure of a US bank since Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis.
The FDIC could not immediately find a buyer for the bank’s assets, signalling how fast depositors had cashed out.
It also seized the bank’s assets in the middle of the business day, a sign of how dire the situation had become.
