Watch: House committee questions Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank on failings

Watch as the House Financial Services Committee questions Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank executives on Wednesday, 17 May, on failings which led to the collapse of the banks earlier this year.

The committee has set out to “obtain the views of management of SVB and Signature Bank on events surrounding the banks’ failure as well as the regulatory and supervisory frameworks for both banks.”

A bank run - where large numbers of customers withdraw their money over fears about a bank’s solvency - forced US regulators to take over SVB in March 2023.

This came just before the collapse of Signature Bank.

Events leading up to the banks’ closure and the activities and decisions of federal and state regulators will be examined.

Witnesses include Gregory Becker, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Scott Shay, former chairman and co-founder of Signature Bank, and Eric Howell, former president of Signature Bank.

Adrienne Harris, New York Department of Financial Services superintendent and Clothilde Hewlett, California Department of

Financial Protection and Innovation commissioner, will also be present.

In his first public remarks since the SVB collapse, Mr Becker told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he was “truly sorry” for what happened at the bank, but blamed “a series of unprecedented events that all came together” for “the fastest bank run in history.”

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