FDIC grants First Citizens rare credit line for SVB

First Citizens BancShares Inc.’s acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank came with an unusual provision: a $70 billion line of credit, courtesy of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The financing is meant to help First Citizens meet liquidity needs that arise in the next two years as it integrates SVB into its operations, the Raleigh, North Carolina based-lender said in a regulatory filing.

“This is not a typical deal term for an acquirer in these transactions to buy a failed bank,” Jerry Comizio, an American University professor and former Treasury Department official, said in an email. “It really highlights the FDIC’s desire to resolve this situation by providing a potential liquidity hedge against SVB’s high level of uninsured deposits.”