Silicon Valley Bank Closed By State Regulators

Silicon Valley Bank was shut down Friday by state regulators following a chaotic 48 hours as the bank was unable to raise capital. 

As noted by CNN, its failure marks the largest shutdown of a U.S. bank since 2008, when Washington Mutual fell during the financial crisis.

California regulators closed down the tech lender and put it in control of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC will likely liquidate the bank’s assets to pay back its customers.

Silicon Valley Bank partnered with nearly half of all venture-backed tech and health care companies in the U.S. and was among the top 20 American commercial banks, with $209 billion in total assets at the end of last year, according to the FDIC.

The bank’s stock fell into free fall on Thursday with word of impending trouble, and by Friday SVB’s shares were halted after falling more than 60 percent in premarket trading. CNN reports that several other bank stocks were temporarily halted Friday, including First Republic, PacWest Bancorp and Signature Bank.