On March 28, the US Senate Banking Committee heard testimony about the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
People line up outside the headquarters of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in Santa Clara, California, USA. Photo: THX
Attending the hearing were Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Martin Gruenberg, Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Michael Barr, and Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang.
Both the FDIC and the Fed are investigating the causes of the bank failures and will make an announcement on May 1. The Fed proposes to examine banks under various scenarios to detect pathways that could cause contagion; impose long-term debt requirements on large banks so they have the resources to mitigate losses.
The FDIC will explore options to raise the deposit insurance limit above the current $250,000. Fed, FDIC and Treasury officials have all said banks with total assets above $100 billion should be given serious attention.
In testimony before Congress on March 28, Michael Barr criticized the bank’s “concentrated business model.” He also suggested tightening banking regulations to avoid similar incidents in the future, and said U.S. regulators were ready to intervene again if necessary.
The Fed has faced complaints that it was not quick enough to detect flaws at SVB.
Michael Barr said the SVB failure showed the need for continued supervisory work to improve the resilience of the banking system and proposed rules requiring banks to maintain leverage ratios and keep certain amounts of capital on hand.
According to VNA