HSBC has acquired Silicon Valley Bank (UK) Ltd, headquartered in London, Europe’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest banking and financial services institutions. Customers of SVB UK can access their deposits and banking services as usual from today, with no taxpayer money involved and customer deposits protected.
HSBC confirmed that its U.K. ring-fenced subsidiary, HSBC UK Bank, had agreed to acquire SVB U.K. for £1 ($1.21). The assets and liabilities of SVB U.K.’s parent company are excluded from the transaction.
The rescue of SVB UK was welcomed by British government ministers, regulators and technology start-ups, who said customers would be able to bank as normal.
“HSBC is Europe’s largest bank, and SVB UK customers should feel reassured by the strength, safety and security that brings them,” Britain’s finance minister Jeremy Hunt said.
“We were faced with a situation where we could have seen some of our most important companies – our most strategic companies – wiped out, and that would have been extremely dangerous,” Hunt told reporters.
The Bank of England facilitated this sale, using the powers granted by the Banking Act 2009 to ensure the safe management of banks in the post-crisis banking reforms. This sale protects both customers of SVB UK and taxpayers and highlights the importance of the UK’s tech sector and dynamic start-up and scale-up ecosystem.
SVB UK was swept up in the implosion of California-based Silicon Valley Bank, which US regulators shut on Friday. A sale of SVB UK, which has 3,300 UK clients, including start-ups, venture-backed companies and funds, was the preferred choice of chancellor Jeremy Hunt, avoiding a big government intervention to protect depositors.
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, stated that the government had worked urgently to deliver a solution that will provide confidence to SVB UK’s customers, who can now bank as normal without taxpayer support. HSBC’s acquisition of SVB UK brings strength, safety, and security to its customers.