WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with banking regulators on Friday to discuss the collapse of SVB Financial Group and expressed “full confidence” in their abilities to respond to the situation and that the U.S. banking system remains resilient, the Treasury Department said.
The Treasury said in a statement that Yellen met with officials from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Friday to discuss developments with SVB, which does business as Silicon Valley Bank.
“Secretary Yellen expressed full confidence in banking regulators to take appropriate actions in response and noted that the banking system remains resilient and regulators have effective tools to address this type of event,” the Treasury said.
California banking regulators on Friday closed SVB, appointing the FDIC as receiver to protect depositors at the startup-focused lender. The bank failure was the largest since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
In testimony earlier on Friday before the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, Yellen was asked about SVB’s situation and said: “There are recent developments that concern a few banks that I’m monitoring very carefully. And when banks experience financial losses, it is and should be a matter of concern.”
(Reporting by Paul Grant; Editing by Paul Simao)
