US investigations for SVB.

America’s top markets watchdog and the US justice department are understood to have launched investigations into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The most significant US banking failure since 2008 alarmed thousands of companies with cash in the bank and rattled the more comprehensive banking system.

The Biden administration moved to guarantee all deposits at the weekend, while HSBC has acquired SVB’s British arm for £1, averting a crisis for venture capital firms and start-ups in the UK.

The US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have launched separate inquiries, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that officials are also investigating stock sales by executives. Shares in SVB Financial Group, which owned the bank, fell 60 per cent before trading was halted on Friday, and regulators closed the bank. The previous week, Greg Becker, chief executive of SVB Financial, and Daniel Beck, chief financial officer, sold shares, according to filings. These sales occurred under automated plans filed a month earlier to allay suspicion of trading on non-public information.

Beck sold 2,000 shares on February 27, worth about $575,000. The SEC declined to comment. On Sunday, Gary Gensler, its chairman, said: «Without speaking to any individual entity or person, we will investigate and bring enforcement actions if we find violations of the federal securities laws.

The SEC is mainly focused on monitoring market stability and identifying and prosecuting any misconduct that might threaten investors, capital formation, or the markets more broadly».

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