Silicon Valley Bank fallout drags in a bank with a similar name after ‘baseless rumors and mischief-mongering’

Police officers leave Silicon Valley Banks headquarters in Santa Clara, California on March 10, 2023. (Credit: Noah Berger—AFP/Getty Images)

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank caused panic across the U.S. and Britain last week—but as regulators in both countries scrambled to salvage depositors’ funds, a much smaller bank on another continent found itself inadvertently entangled in the crisis.

Little-known Indian lender SVC, which has 198 branches across India, put out a statement on Saturday to clear up the confusion between itself and Silicon Valley Bank, which is often abbreviated to SVB.