First Citizens agrees to buy collapsed Silicon Valley Bank

(Reuters) – First-Citizens Bank & Trust Co, a unit of First Citizens BancShares Inc, said it will acquire $110 billion in assets, $56 billion in deposits and $72 billion in loans of failed lender Silicon Valley Bank.

SVB was the largest bank, since the 2008 financial crisis, to collapse when California regulators closed the bank on March 10, sparking massive market disruption and heightened stress across the banking sector globally.

Santa Clara, California-based SVB was the sixteenth biggest U.S. lender at the end of last year, with about $209 billion in assets, while First Citizens has around $109 billion.

Below is a timeline of key events leading to the acquisition:

Date Development

March 8, 2023 SVB says it intends to raise $2.25 billion in

common equity and preferred convertible stock

after it sold a portfolio of US Treasuries and

mortgage-backed securities at a $1.8 billion

loss

March 9, 2023 SVB clients pull their money from the bank on

the advice of venture capital firms such as

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, sources tell

Reuters, leading to $42 billion of deposit

withdrawals on that day

March 10, 2023 A California regulator shuts Silicon Valley

Bank and appoints the Federal Deposit

Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver to

take control of its parent company, according

to the agency’s statement

March 11, 2023 Employees of Silicon Valley Bank offered 45

days of employment at 1.5 times their salary

by the regulator FDIC, according to an email

to staff seen by Reuters

March 12, 2023 “Depositors will have access to all of their

money starting Monday, March 13,” the U.S.

Treasury, Federal Reserve and FDIC said in a

statement, adding that no losses associated

with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank

will be borne by the taxpayer

March 13, 2023 The defunct holding company says it is

planning to explore strategic alternatives for

its businesses and names William Kosturos as

its chief restructuring officer.

President Joe Biden vows to take action to

ensure the safety of the U.S. banking system.

March 14, 2023 SVB says that Goldman Sachs acquired the bond

portfolio on which it booked a $1.8 billion

loss, a transaction that set its failure in

motion.

March 15, 2023 Canada’s financial regulator says it has taken

permanent control of the assets of Silicon

Valley Bank’s Canadian branch and was winding

up the institution.

March 15, 2023 Regulators at the U.S. Federal Deposit

Insurance Corp (FDIC) have asked banks

interested in acquiring failed lenders Silicon

Valley Bank and Signature Bank to submit bids

by March 17, Reuters reported.

March 16, 2023 U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says that

Silicon Valley Bank had to be closed because

of a liquidity risk that meant the bank could

not meet depositors’ withdrawal requests.

March 17, 2023 SVB says it filed for a court-supervised

reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy

protection to seek buyers for its assets, days

after its former unit Silicon Valley Bank was

taken over by U.S. regulators.

March 19, 2023 SVB Financial lost access to its financial

records after the bank was placed into

receivership by the FDIC, according to court

documents filed in Manhattan.

March 20, 2023 The FDIC decided to break up Silicon Valley

Bank and hold two separate auctions for its

traditional deposits unit and its private bank

after failing to find a buyer for the failed

lender.

March 27, 2023 First Citizens BancShares Inc said it will

acquire the deposits and loans of failed

Silicon Valley Bank.

(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Priyamvada C; Editing by Maju Samuel, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Sriraj Kalluvila and Savio D’Souza)