SVB resolution reassuring, will bring relief to startups: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Amid US administration's move to protect depositors of Silicon Valley Bank, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said that the SVB resolution is "reassuring" and will bring relief to startups.

The Biden administration has announced that depositors of the failed Silicon Valley Bank will have access to their money from Monday.

"SVB resolution is reassuring. (It) will bring relief to startups," Vaishnaw told PTI.

US President Joe Biden on Monday sought to reassure Americans that they can have confidence that the US banking system is "safe" and vowed stricter bank regulation after a string of bank failures raised concerns about the nation's financial stability.

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Federal regulators have stepped to back all Silicon Valley Bank deposits.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank last week left many startups, tech companies, entrepreneurs, and VC funds nervous and jittery.

California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th largest bank in the United States, was closed on Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation which later appointed the FDIC as its receiver.

SVB was deeply entrenched in the tech startup ecosystem and the default bank for many high-flying startups; its abrupt fall marked one of the largest bank failures since the 2008 global financial crisis. The bank failed after clients--many of them venture capital firms and VC-backed companies that the bank had cultivated over time--began pulling out their deposits, creating a run on the bank.

After receiving recommendations from the boards of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve, and consulting with the president, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday approved actions enabling the FDIC to complete its resolution of the Santa Clara, California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in a manner that fully protects all depositors.

In a related development, the UK government announced on Monday that it has facilitated London-based banking major HSBC to buy the embattled UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank for 1 pound, securing the deposits of more than 3,000 customers worth around 6.7 billion pounds.