Silicon Valley Bank’s US business went bust last week. Over the weekend, a rescue deal for its UK operation Silicon Valley Bank UK (SBVUK) was agreed between the Bank of England in consultation with the Prudential Regulation Authority, HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority.
SVBUK was sold to HSBC UK for £1 as a result.
The BoE issued a statement this morning (13 March) that said: The Bank and HM Treasury can confirm that all depositors’ money with SVBUK is safe and secure as a result of this transaction. SVBUK’s business will continue to be operated normally by SVBUK. All services will continue to operate as normal and customers should not notice any changes.”
SBVUK specialised in funding start-ups and tech companies.
Earlier today Moonpig issued a statement saying that the £304m turnover group had “no material exposure” to SVBUK.
“SVBUK is one of ten lenders that provide senior debt facilities to the Group as part of a strong banking syndicate,” Moonpig said.
“The group has significant liquidity headroom. Utilised and available facilities together total £242m, which are committed until 8 December 2025. This excludes the £13m undrawn portion of SVBUK's commitment.”
Moonpig's share price fell from 126.00p to 118.10p on the news, but recovered to 124.30p in later trading (52-week high: 283.40p, low: 104.80).
Following the announcement that @HSBC_UK has acquired SVB UK, we're resuming normal operations from today. Our clients should not notice any significant changes, however, there may be short delays across the next few days as we return to business as usual. Thanks for the support
— Silicon Valley Bank UK (@SVB_UK) March 13, 2023
Fast-growing Australian-headquartered design platform Canva also has an account with SVB, but a spokesman told Australian Financial Review that most of Canva’s cash was outside the SVB system.
Shopify and Trustpilot are also SVB clients.
Authorities in the US have moved to reassure SVB customers in the States that they will be able to access their insured deposits today.
The bank was shut down by regulators and had its assets seized at the end of last week due to inadequate liquidity.
This resulted in fears that some of its customers would be unable to meet scheduled payments such as payroll if their funds were unavailable.
Just a month ago SVB was ranked as of America’s best banks by Forbes.
