Signature Bank Shut Down by US Regulators On The Account of "Systemic Risk"
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Signature Bank Shut Down Follows Silicon Valley Bank's Shut Down
The regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank on Friday and seized its deposits in the largest U.S. banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis — and the second-largest ever. The dramatic moves come just days after the tech-focused institution reported that it was struggling, triggering a run on the bank’s deposits.
Signature is one of the main banks for the cryptocurrency industry, the biggest one next to Silvergate, which announced its impending liquidation last week. It had a market value of $4.4 billion as of Friday after a 40% sell-off this year, according to FactSet.
As of Dec. 31, Signature had $110.4 billion in total assets and $88.6 billion in total deposits.
Creation of the Emergency Program
To stem the damage and stave off a bigger crisis, the Fed and Treasury created an emergency program to backstop deposits at both Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank using the Fed’s emergency lending authority.
The FDIC’s deposit insurance fund will be used to cover depositors, many of whom were uninsured due to the $250,000 guarantee on deposits. While depositors will have access to their money, equity, and bondholders at both banks are being wiped out.