In a development that has an all-too-familiar feel, on Friday March 10, 2023, banking regulators closed California-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), in what is the second-largest banking failure in U.S. history. The closure of the country’s 16th largest bank has sent shivers through the financial sector, raising questions about other lending institutions. For those of us in the D&O insurance industry, the bank’s closure also raises unpleasant memories about past failed bank D&O claims. As discussed below, the sequence of events at SVB shows how rising interest rates represent a significant threat that could contribute to a combination of circumstances that might well lead to D&O claims. A copy of the FDIC’s March 10, 2023, press release announcing the bank’s closure and the agency’s appointment as the bank’s receiver can be found here.
Source: What Does the Failure of Silicon Valley Bank Mean? | The D&O Diary