The banking sector is currently experiencing great strain, which has resulted in several bank bailouts – most recently UBS’ deal to buy its Swiss competitor Credit Suisse following a collapse in confidence in the latter. HSBC’s acquisition of the UK arm of the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank the previous week brought great relief for its depositors, many of which were small tech start-ups.
SVB’s UK clients were lucky that the government facilitated the rescue deal so quickly – it was announced the Monday after SVB collapsed in the US – but they still endured several days of worry and uncertainty beforehand. And with financial markets now responding to continued concerns about the banking sector, particularly in Europe, it doesn’t look like all banks – or their clients – are out of the woods yet.
