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Get the Facts: Who’s to blame for Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank failures?

Industry experts say there were several factors that led to the collapse of the two mid-size banks.

Get the Facts: Who’s to blame for Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank failures?

Industry experts say there were several factors that led to the collapse of the two mid-size banks.

Legislation. I'm signing today rolls back the crippling Dodd Frank regulations that are crushing community banks And credit unions nationwide. They were in such trouble. That's president Trump in 2018, rolling back bank regulations first put in place eight years earlier after *** financial crisis shook the banking industry. The new rules known as the Dodd Frank Act were meant to prevent another financial collapse. Now, critics say easing those regulations caused or contributed to the sudden failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank earlier this month, these bank failures were the direct result of policy makers decisions over the last five years beginning with *** 2018 law signed by President Trump with the support of both parties. But is that what happened? Let's get the facts with our partners at fact check dot org is the rollback to blame for the failure. There seem to be many different causes uh that were involved here. Your research, your fact checking has found it's not clear cut. Yeah. No, it's it's it's not clear cut. There are *** lot of red flags with this bank um from the experts that we spoke to those warnings include s V BS rapid growth. In fact, it nearly quadrupled its assets in *** short span of just four years, Holding *** huge portion of accounts far larger than the $250,000 amount guaranteed by the government. That meant the bank was extremely vulnerable to rapid withdrawals of most of its deposits and SBS huge investments in low interest government securities that it suddenly had to liquidate at *** loss. But some experts also argued the Dodd-Frank law made the recent bank failures even more likely to happen. So it sounds like there's some blame to go around. Yes, there is some blame to go around and there's going to be investigations over this. The S E C, the DOJ the fed, they're all going to be looking into it. And President Biden is now calling for tougher penalties for the executives of failed banks and he wants Congress to act right away and those are the facts in Washington. I'm chief national investigative correspondent, Mark Albert.
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Get the Facts: Who’s to blame for Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank failures?

Industry experts say there were several factors that led to the collapse of the two mid-size banks.

When the financial industry got wind of regulators taking over and shutting down Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York, some Republicans and Democrats hurried to find out who was to blame.Some politicians from both sides of the fence blamed President Donald Trump, who reversed some of the regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act. The bill was put into place to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis of 2008.In 2018, Trump rolled back regulations for small and midsize banks. Today, critics say easing those policies caused or contributed to the downfall of SVB and Signature Bank."There seem to be many different causes that were involved here," Eugene Kiely explained in a follow-up interview with Hearst Television’s Chief National Investigative Correspondent, Mark Albert. Kiely, who is the director of the nonprofit fact-checking website FactCheck.org, spoke with several banking experts who were split on pointing to one solid reason why the regional banks failed.Hearst Television National Investigative Unit and FactCheck.org peeled back the layers to explain why narrowing in on who or what’s to blame for the bank catastrophe isn’t so cut and dry.Watch our "Get the Facts" installment above for more.Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. Tamika Cody and Wendy Wilk contributed to this report.If you know of concerns in the banking sector you want us to investigate, please send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.

When the financial industry got wind of regulators taking over and shutting down Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York, some Republicans and Democrats hurried to find out who was to blame.

Some politicians from both sides of the fence blamed President Donald Trump, who reversed some of the regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act. The bill was put into place to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis of 2008.

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In 2018, Trump rolled back regulations for small and midsize banks. Today, critics say easing those policies caused or contributed to the downfall of SVB and Signature Bank.

A pedestrian passes a Silicon Valley Bank branch in San Francisco, Monday, March 13, 2023. As the primary regulator of the bank, the Federal Reserve is coming under sharp criticism from financial watchdogs and banking experts. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Jeff Chiu
A pedestrian passes a Silicon Valley Bank branch in San Francisco, Monday, March 13, 2023. As the primary regulator of the bank, the Federal Reserve is coming under sharp criticism from financial watchdogs and banking experts.

"There seem to be many different causes that were involved here," Eugene Kiely explained in a follow-up interview with Hearst Television’s Chief National Investigative Correspondent, Mark Albert. Kiely, who is the director of the nonprofit fact-checking website FactCheck.org, spoke with several banking experts who were split on pointing to one solid reason why the regional banks failed.

Hearst Television National Investigative Unit and FactCheck.org peeled back the layers to explain why narrowing in on who or what’s to blame for the bank catastrophe isn’t so cut and dry.

Watch our "Get the Facts" installment above for more.

Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. Tamika Cody and Wendy Wilk contributed to this report.


If you know of concerns in the banking sector you want us to investigate, please send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.