“Scrambling.”
That was the single-word reply I received from a contact in the White House when I asked what the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was doing today about failed Silicon Valley Bank. Then, Bloomberg confirmed what many expected would be happening this weekend:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. kicked off an auction process late Saturday night for Silicon Valley Bank, with final bids due by Sunday afternoon, according to people familiar with the matter.
The FDIC is aiming for a swift deal but a winner may not be known until late Sunday, according to one person, who asked to not be identified because the matter isn’t public. No final decision has been made and it’s possible that no deal may be reached, said the people.
Representatives for the FDIC didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment outside regular business hours. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed into FDIC receivership on Friday, after its long-established customer base of tech startups grew concerned and yanked deposits.
As I noted in an article this weekend about the potential for Twitter to buy SVB, the logistics of buying and selling a bank are far less complicated than acquisitions of other similar-sized businesses. The roadmap for breaking apart and selling off a bank has been used many times in recent decades. It’s just a whole lot of paperwork.
We should hear who the new owners of Silicon Valley Bank are by Sunday evening. It behooves the FDIC and the White House to get this debacle resolved ahead of markets opening on Monday.
