At the same time, Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS, agreed to buy its smaller rival Credit Suisse for about $3.2 billion in a deal hastily arranged by the Swiss government. Markets and investors in the Silicon Valley bank quickly lost faith in Credit Suisse, which has been plagued by scandal and malfeasance for years.
Banking regulators around the world have moved quickly to increase confidence in the system. The Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank have said they are working to make more available US dollar financing. The central bank also established an emergency lending program to provide additional support to banks.
US regulators have said all depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank will receive a full refund, and some lawmakers have called for the deposit insurance limit, now at $250,000, to be raised or eliminated. The loss of speed deposits at central banks has led some, such as First Republic and Pacwest, to convert lines of credit and look for other businesses to bolster their balance sheets.
Shares of midsize lenders, hit by the near collapse of Silicon Valley banking, rose in the stock market on Monday. First Citizens increased by 40 percent and First Republic by 20 percent.
Headquartered in Raleigh, NC, First Citizens has more than 500 branches in 22 states. The bank was founded in 1898 and describes itself as the largest family bank in the United States. The same family has passed through three generations.
