Silicon Valley Bank: parent company, CEO and CFO sued amid market turmoil - The Guardian

SVB Financial Group and two top executives have been sued by shareholders over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, as global stocks continued to suffer on Tuesday despite assurances from the US president, Joe Biden.

It appeared to be the first of many likely lawsuits over the demise of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which US regulators seized on 10 March after a surge of deposit withdrawals.

The news came as shock waves from the collapse of SVB pounded global bank stocks further on Tuesday, with calls for calm from Biden and other policymakers doing little to reassure markets and prompting some analysts to rethink their outlook on interest rates.

In Monday’s lawsuit, shareholders led by Chandra Vanipenta said Santa Clara, said California-based SVB failed to disclose how rising interest rates would undermine its business model, and leave it worse off than banks with different client bases.

SVB had surprised the market two days earlier by disclosing a $1.8bn after-tax loss from investment sales and that it planned to raise capital, as it scrambled to meet demands from customers who wanted to access their deposits.

Its collapse has sparked fears that other banks could be vulnerable to rising interest rates through an over-exposure to falling bond prices.