The White House, Department of the Treasury, and other federal banking regulators swung into action over the weekend to prevent the failure of two banks with $264 billion in combined deposits from turning into a full-blown economic crisis.
The Treasury, Federal Reserve Board, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) announced Sunday all customer deposits at Silicon Valley Bank ($175 billion in deposits) and New York-based Signature Bank ($89 billion) would be fully protected. On Friday, the FDIC and California banking regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB); the FDIC and the New York State Department of Financial Services followed suit with Signature Bank on Sunday.
Is this move by regulators to ensure depositers a bailout? Depends on who you ask. Analysts on Bloomberg TV on Monday were calling the move a “bail in,” which the Bank of England defines as using investor funds, rather than taxpayer money, to bear losses when a firm fails.
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