Silicon Valley Bank still seeing outflows after First Citizens takeover

The new owner of Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed after a bank run in March and set off fears of broader contagion in the global financial sector, said customers are still withdrawing deposits, the Financial Times reported.

Peter Bristow, president of First Citizens BancShares Inc., which agreed to buy the California-based lender last month, said in an interview with the FT that SVB was still seeing outflows and called for patience from investors. He attributed the withdrawals to pent-up demand during the period in which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took SVB into receivership “- after it became the largest US bank to collapse since the 2008 financial crisis.

Bristow said Raleigh, North Carolina-based First Citizens was already seeing green shoots since the takeover after spending time trying to give people confidence that it will to continue to run on the same model as before.

First Citizens’ stock has risen more than 77 per cent since the takeover, with its price hitting a record last week.

Bristow said in the interview there might be a rethink of SVB’s focus on lending to venture capitalists, which created an unwanted “lumpiness” in deposits.