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Silicon Valley Bank’s Manhattan branch calls COPS on investors trying to pull their cash out as Boston tech CEO with $10M in bank describes ‘worst 18 hours of my life’: Lender is SEIZED by regulators in largest US bank failure since Great Recession
Police were called after ‘about a dozen’ financiers, including former Lyft executive Dor Levi, showed up outside the building on Park Avenue Friday
SVB blocked them from entering and two cop cars arrived to secure the building
There was a run on the bank today as depositors – many of them tech workers – began pulling funds following a surprise announcement of a $1.8 billion loss
A Silicon Valley Bank branch in Manhattan today called the cops on tech investors trying to pull their cash out as a run on the bank forced regulators to seize its assets. Police were called after ‘about a dozen’ financiers, including former Lyft executive Dor Levi, showed up outside the building on Park Avenue as investors scrambled to get their money out amid the biggest collapse since the Great Recession. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) seized SVB’s assets today after depositors – mostly tech workers and start-up firms – triggered a run on the bank following the shock announcement of a $1.8bn loss. The bank took a hammering in pre-market with its price plunging 66 percent before trading was halted. Investors are only insured up to $250,000 and there have already been horror stories. Ashley Tyrner, CEO of Boston wellness firm FarmboxRx, said she had at least $10m deposited with SVB and has been frantically calling her banker. She said it had been ‘the worst 18 hours of my life.’ With around $209bn in assets, SVB is the second-largest bank failure in US history after the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual. The crash is expected to have a colossal impact on the tech sector, with many start-ups using SVB as their sole account and creditor. It is the first FDIC-insured bank to fail in more than two years, the last being Almena State Bank in October 2020. Ashley Tyrner, CEO of Boston wellness firm FarmboxRx, said she had at least $10m deposited with SVB and has been frantically calling her banker. She called it ‘the worst 18 hours of my life’
