HSBC, Europe's largest bank with $2.9T of assets, has acquired the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) British arm, SVB UK, for only £1.
The bank aims to prevent further contagion for the U.K.-based crypto and tech startups by rescuing a key lender.
The Bank of England (BOE), the U.K.'s central bank, organized the sale.
- The country's finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, said some of England's most important and strategic companies could have been wiped out otherwise.
- BOE stated that deposits at SVB UK were safe thanks to the acquisition.
- HSBC said the parent company SVB's assets and liabilities were excluded from the transaction.
- SVB UK has deposits of £6.7B ($8.2B), loans of £5.5B ($6.7B), and a total balance sheet size of £8.8B ($10.7B), according to HSBC and BOE.
- HSBC shares declined by 1.7% following the announcement.
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, the U.S. state's financial watchdog, shut down SVB on March 10.
- The bank was the 16th largest bank in the U.S. and provided banking services to several crypto and tech startups.
