HSBC swoops in to rescue UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank
HSBC has acquired the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) for just £1 after the US bank collapsed.
The move has brought relief to UK tech firms, who had warned they could go bust without help. Customers and businesses with money deposited in SVB UK will be able to access their funds and other banking services as normal.
The deal involved no taxpayer money, according to the Treasury, and the Bank of England has assured that deposits are secure.
The UK arm of SVB had just over 3,000 business customers, but its collapse could have presented a risk for a sector viewed as pivotal to the UK’s future economic success.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the deal was a solution to the risk of some of the UK’s most important and strategic companies being wiped out.
The collapse of SVB in the US, which was the largest failure of a US bank since 2008, had sent shockwaves across the tech industry.