In an attempt to combat surging inflation, the Federal Reserve has implemented its fastest interest rate hikes since the 1980s, which has yielded unintended consequences with severe side effects for banks.
The spike in customer withdrawals from American banks saw $78 billion evacuated from bank accounts between July 5 and 12, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) system. Under the same circumstances, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were hit in March by a huge cash drain. Also, First Republic Bank had to solicit tens of billions of dollars from other banks to stay afloat.
The massive cash flights came on the heels of two weeks of relative stability as major banks allocated substantial amounts to third parties to bring in new deposits.
SVB Bank Collapse
On March 1, SVB's value was close to $17 billion, holding about $200 billion in customer deposits. Its clientele, consisting mainly of venture capital firms and the companies they invested in, gave the bank a strong foothold in a profitable market. .....more below
