This weekend will have been a worrying time for many venture backed Boardwave members, with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). And by the suspension of SVB UK, which the UK government is trying to rescue. We know many Boardwave members will have accounts with SVB (in the US & UK) and be working with their investors to develop their own plans to ensure they protect their businesses.
It has been a fast moving situation since late last week, and will continue to play out in the coming days. Late last night the Federal Reserve announced that it will make available additional funding to eligible depository institutions to help assure banks have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors, a move aimed to calm fears of contagion in the banking sector. The US treasury has said “Depositors will have access to all of their money starting Monday March 13th”. In the UK, in talks with Rishi Sunak over the weekend, Jeremy Hunt said “We are working at pace on a solution”. It has, this morning, been agreed that HSBC will buy Silicon Valley Bank UK, in a deal facilitated by the Government and the Bank of England., ensuring that deposits are protected.
It is clear that the long term impact will be felt throughout the tech sector in the UK and Europe. Boardwave has been involved in a number of discussions with senior figures in the UK tech sector throughout the weekend and has set up a discussion group to facilitate information sharing and discussion between our members on the situation as it continues to develop and further details emerge.
Hopefully our worst fears are over, but we must all work together to support each other and our sector.
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