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Banks are still grappling with fallout of SVB's failure one year on

Mar 11, 2024
Regulators are more watchful, and banks are trying to be more resourceful.
The banking system was caught off guard by the problems at Silicon Valley Bank,  Signature Bank and First Republic Bank.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

A year after Silicon Valley Bank failed, lenders are still feeling pressure on all sides

Feb 23, 2024
Rising interest rates have cranked up the interest banks are paying depositors. But banks also have a lot of cash stuck in low-interest bonds and loans they made before the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates.
A lot of the problems that last year’s bank failures revealed are still troubling small and mid-sized banks today.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Higher interest rates and troubled commercial real estate are piling pressure on regional banks

Jan 22, 2024
We'll be getting a sense of how they're doing as they report quarterly results this week.
A view inside a Silicon Valley Bank location in March 2023. Since the collapse of SVB, a lot of small and mid-sized banks have tried to stop depositors from pulling out their money by raising interest rates on deposits.
Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images

6 months out from SVB's failure, a bank president's optimism has waned

Sep 6, 2023
Pressure to keep more capital puts constraints on banks, says Laurie Stewart of Sound Community in Seattle.
Laurie Stewart, the head of Sound Community Bank in Seattle, says pressures to hold more capital will "impact our ability to serve clients and to be investable."
Courtesy Sound Community Bank

Startups pitch banks as alternative to VCs

As venture capital becomes scarce, demand is rising for venture debt — the kind of loan Silicon Valley Bank provided before it collapsed.
Venture debt is a specialized bank loan that doesn’t involve an ownership stake. Silicon Valley Bank was a leader in the field.
Ong-ad Nuseewor via Getty Images

No more business as usual for the Fed

Jun 29, 2023
Technology that can cause banks to fail overnight could force the Federal Reserve to upgrade its infrastructure, while continuing basic regulation to prevent failures from occurring in the first place.
Silicon Valley Bank's problems wouldn’t have been solved by an instant Fed bailout, said Wharton professor Itamar Drechsler.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Why 2008 financial crisis regulations didn't prevent the recent bank failures

May 3, 2023
Three major bank failures in two months. What happened to all those regulations?
"SVB was among the large regional banks that really should have been engaging in stress testing and wasn’t," said Columbia Law professor Kathryn Judge.
Noah Berger/AFP via Getty Images

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FHLB: The banking backstop you've never heard of

Apr 18, 2023
The Federal Home Loan Bank system was created during the Great Depression to boost mortgage lending and absorb shocks for banks under stress.
The Federal Home Loan Bank System came out of the Great Depression in an effort to act as a shock absorber for banks under stress.
OFF/AFP via Getty Images

The history of “too big to fail”

Apr 13, 2023
In the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank debacle, the 1984 failure of Continental Illinois remains relevant.
The head offices of Bear Stearns, left, and JPMorgan Chase in New York in March 2008. After Bear went bust, JPM acquired its remains for a small sum.
Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Why we're paying extra attention to senior loan officers right now

Apr 11, 2023
The recent banking turmoil could further tighten credit conditions and slow down the economy.
Kent Belasco of Marquette University believes the recent bank failures are isolated, but "it does have an impact on the banking industry as a whole."
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images