SVB, First Republic, Signature, Credit Suisse. All distressed, closed, and bailed.
It’s been a bad week for banks and lenders.
Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York collapsed March 10 and March 12, respectively, and the federal government stepped in to protect depositors. Shareholders’ investments were not protected, and the government replaced management teams to oversee recovery efforts.
Silicon Valley Bank’s parent company, SVB Financial Group, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 17, the largest filing since 2008, according to The Wall Street Journal. SVB is under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and isn’t part of the bankruptcy filing. However, SVB Capital, an investment manager overseeing $9.5 billion in funds; SVB Securities; and SVP Private are part of the filings.
First Republic Bank didn’t suffer the same fate. The bank received a $30 billion injection of cash from large banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America after customers took out billions in deposits in the wake of SVB and Signature Bank’s closing. Much of the funds were deposited in the large institutions, according to the Journal.
First Republic also borrowed up to $109 billion from the Federal Reserve in the last week, and S&P Global Ratings downgraded the bank’s bonds to junk status March 15. First Republic’s shares were down 17 percent March 17, according to the Journal.
Shares of other regional banks are also down as of March 17. PacWest Bancorp’s shares dropped 12 percent and Fifth Third’s shares dropped 3.6 percent, according to the Journal.
The Journal reported Wall Street is wary of Credit Suisse after shares dropped 10 percent March 17. The lender revealed plans to borrow more than $50 billion from Swiss National Bank. At the end of last year, Credit Suisse had $169 billion long-term debt outstanding and additional $25 billion in short-term borrowing, according to the Journal. Credit Suisse would end up being bought by rival USB for $3b + a $100b long term credit line.
What does all this mean for you? It means that Big Banks are taking major haircuts on their debt. And they are getting shored up and bailed out by government regulators, other banks, and deposits are being insured. Their credit ratings are taking temporary dips, but they are staying operational – some with a new name, some with the same name.
But if the banks are getting a huge relief from their debt issues, you should too.
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