Collapsed Silicon Valley Bank sold to US rival First Citizens

First Citizens Bank has bought all the loans and deposits of failed US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) following a “competitive” bidding process, the lender has announced.
By Greg Wright
Published 27th Mar 2023, 08:59 BST

The acquisition follows the collapse of SVB earlier this month, which sparked wider panic over the stability of the global banking sector.

The sale was agreed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), one of the US regulators which acted to protect depositors to prevent wider financial turmoil when SVB collapsed. First Citizens, which is a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, purchased about 72 billion US dollars (£59bin) of SVB’s assets at a discount of 16.5 billion US dollars (£13bn), the FDIC said.

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SVB’s 17 bank branches will begin operating as a division of First Citizens and customers will be able to access their current accounts as they usually would, according to the announcement.

First Citizens, which is a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, purchased about £59bn of SVB’s assets.First Citizens, which is a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, purchased about £59bn of SVB’s assets.
First Citizens, which is a subsidiary of First Citizens BancShares, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, purchased about £59bn of SVB’s assets.

Frank B Holding Jr, chairman and chief executive of First Citizens, said the acquisition affirms its “commitment to support the integrity of our nation’s banking system”. First Citizens, a family-controlled bank with more than 550 branches, said the purchase followed a competitive bidding process.