Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters that in the days following the rapid collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the main question regulators asked themselves was: “How did this happen?” The man responsible for answering that question is the central bank’s vice chair for supervision, Michael S. Barr, who is set to give testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Tuesday. And like many, Barr plans on pinning the blame on SVB’s execs.
“SVB’s failure is a textbook case of mismanagement,” he will tell senators, according to written testimony released by the Fed Monday. “The picture that has emerged thus far shows SVB had inadequate risk management and internal controls that struggled to keep pace with the growth of the bank.”
