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March 29 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve was in discussions with Silicon Valley Bank the day before its collapse to move pledgable collateral to the discount window, a key facility long associated with providing emergency loans to banks, the Fed's head of banking supervision told a Congressional committee on Wednesday. Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Michael Barr said he first became aware of stress at Silicon Valley Bank on the afternoon of March 9, but that the bank reported to supervisors that morning that deposits were stable. "(Fed) staff were working with Silicon Valley Bank basically all afternoon and evening and through the morning the next day to pledge as much collateral as humanly possible to the discount (window) on Friday," Barr said to the House Financial Services Committee. Barr told the Senate Banking Committee he first became aware of the interest rate risk issues at SVB in mid-February, while Fed supervisors had been raising issues with the bank directly in months prior to that. Some Democrats have also argued a 2018 bank deregulation law is to blame.

☆ Dollar firmer as banking fears fade; yen sinks on quarter-end flows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Saqib Iqbal Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The dollar is trading mixed today with a bit of upside as global risk sentiment improves and central banks can turn their attention back toward inflation," Given said. The dollar rose to a one-week high against the yen , which remained volatile in the run-up to the end of the Japanese fiscal year on Friday. "A decent amount of USD/JPY flow today is end of quarter related," Monex USA's Given said. "Traders are concerned with real money outcomes at the moment, but as global risk sentiment continues to improve, JPY as a traditional haven looks less appealing," she said. The dollar was 1.03% higher at 132.275 yen.

House lawmakers tore into top U.S. bank regulators Wednesday, questioning their competency and saying examiners were asleep at the wheel, at a second day of congressional hearings this week about how Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed practically overnight on March 10 and March 12. "We need competent financial supervisors, but Congress can't legislate competence," House Financial Services chairman Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told top officials at the Federal Reserve, Treasury and FDIC at the beginning the hearing. "The light touch cautions from the Fed to SVB management are clearly not what Congress intended for bank supervision," said Waters. Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga, Mich., demanded raw, confidential supervisory information about the banks, available to regulators ahead of the collapses. Members of the Republican majority House challenged many of the decisions made by regulators in the hours and days after SVB collapsed and Signature Bank followed 48 hours later.

☆ SVB saw $142 billion fly out the door in just 2 days in a tech-driven bank run - and that spells trouble, says Mohamed El-Erian
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

SVB saw $142 billion pulled from deposits in just two days before it collapsed. The bank run was sped up by social media spreading news faster and tech tools making it easier to withdraw funds. Mohamed El-Erian said potential high-speed bank runs raise challenges for banks. These new details of SVB's downfall has top economist El-Erian flagging warning signs of the impact of tech tools on banks. "I anticipate the need to strengthen capital and liquidity standards for firms over $100 billion," Barr said.

☆ Premarket stocks: How big of a problem is greedflation?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“Executives at SVB and Signature [Bank] took wild risks and must be held accountable for exploding their banks,” Warren said. Republican Senators say the Fed’s focus on climate change led to banking turmoilRepublican Senators repeatedly insinuated on Tuesday that the recent US banking turmoil came as a result of the Federal Reserve’s focus on climate change. In his opening statement, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the ranking member of the banking committee, called the Fed’s focus on climate change a waste of time. It’s what our supervisors do all the time.”In an interview with Montana Public Radio in 2014, Daines said that “the jury’s still out” on whether climate change is real. The public reasonably expects supervisors to require that banks understand, and appropriately manage, their material risks, including the financial risks of climate change.”

☆ The 30-year fixed mortgage rate drops to a 6-week low as banking turmoil sent bond yields tumbling in March
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to its lowest in six weeks, tracking falling bond yields. The rate fell to 6.45%, helping fuel another week of increases in mortgage applications. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.45% from 6.48% in the week ended March 24 for loans meeting government-agency limits of $726,200 or less, according to figures released by the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday. The 30-year rate fell as investors rushed into US government debt, looking for shelter from the turmoil over deposits at regional banks. Powell later said policy makers had considered pausing rate hikes because of the banking turmoil but decided to deliver a steady rate hike of 25 basis points, to 4.75%-5%.

A pedestrian walks past the Federal Reserve Headquarters on March 21 in Washington, DC. Daines also accused the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco of prioritizing addressing climate change over the risks presented by higher interest rates. In an interview with Montana Public Radio in 2014, Daines said that "the jury’s still out" on whether climate change is real. These responsibilities are tightly linked to our responsibilities for bank supervision. The public reasonably expects supervisors to require that banks understand, and appropriately manage, their material risks, including the financial risks of climate change.”

Senators rebuked the Federal Reserve for failing to prevent the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank despite identifying risks beforehand, while the central bank’s top regulator blamed the firm’s executives for not fixing its problems. In an appearance Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee, Michael Barr , the Fed’s vice chairman for banking supervision, defended the actions of the Fed’s supervisors and said the central bank had privately raised concerns with SVB before its March 10 collapse and had given the lender poor ratings for managing its risks.

The nation's top bank regulators will face tough questions for the first time Tuesday about how Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed practically overnight earlier this month. This allowed the FDIC to guarantee hundreds of billions of dollars in uninsured deposits at the banks, money that might otherwise have been wiped out. Both Republicans and Democrats on the 29-member panel questioned whether these deposit guarantees amounted to a government bailout for rich account holders. "One clear takeaway from recent events is that heavy reliance on uninsured deposits creates liquidity risks that are extremely difficult to manage," the FDIC's Gruenberg said in his written testimony. "Particularly in today's environment where money can flow out of institutions with incredible speed in response to news amplified through social media channels."

☆ Premarket stocks: Banking chaos could break the strong job market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —The job market has remained strong even as the Federal Reserve has spent a full year attempting to cool off the economy by raising interest rates. But economists think that the recent banking turmoil may be what finally raises unemployment. Even with those big job cuts, the labor market in the United States remains white hot. Since the pandemic, regional banks “have provided a vast majority of lending to small firms, underwriting local small business formation,” said Philip Wool, an analyst with asset manager Rayliant. AI will likely lead to job loss, they wrote, but technological innovation that initially displaces workers has historically created employment growth over long haul.

☆ US stocks fall as rising bond yields pressure tech amid easing banking sector fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

US stocks fall Tuesday, leaving the S&P 500 lower after three days of gains. The 2-year Treasury yield pushed back above 4%, pressuring tech stocks. Sign up for our newsletter to get the inside scoop on what traders are talking about — delivered daily to your inbox. Tech stocks were stung by a rise in the 2-year Treasury yield, pushing above 4% for the first time in nearly a week. Higher yields slice into the value of future profit for tech and other growth companies.

☆ SVB customers tried to withdraw nearly all the bank’s deposits over two days, Fed's Barr testifies
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The run on Silicon Valley Bank's deposits this month went far deeper than was initially known. Regulators shuttered SVB on March 10 in the biggest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. The combined withdrawal figure of $142 billion represents a staggering 81% of SVB's $175 billion in deposits as of the end of last year. Lawmakers summoned top U.S. banking regulators to Washington to explain why Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed earlier this month. In fact, Fed supervisors began warning SVB management about the risk that higher interest rates posed to the bank's balance sheet in November 2021, Barr testified.

☆ Andrew Bailey says Bank of England on high alert as investors 'test' banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

On Monday, European bank shares rose, boosted by news that First Citizens Bank in the United States would buy most of the assets of Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed earlier this month. “I think there are moves in markets to, if you like, test out firms,” Bailey told a UK parliamentary committee Tuesday. José Manuel Campa, the head of the European Banking Authority, told Germany’s Handelsblatt Monday that European lenders remained vulnerable. The Swiss heavyweight was rescued by UBS, while SVB UK was bought by HSBC (HBCYF) for £1 after its US parent was shut by regulators. Despite being well-capitalized, SVB UK would not have survived the demise of its US parent, according to Bailey.

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - Lawmakers are expected to put top U.S. bank regulators on the defensive over the unexpected failures of regional lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank when they testify before Congress on Tuesday. Regulators have vowed to review their rules and procedures after the twin failures while insisting the overall system remains sound. Tuesday's hearing at the Senate Banking Committee will give lawmakers the chance to press watchdogs on what went wrong on their watch, and push preferred policy prescriptions. They just didn't," said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, at a banking industry conference last week. Some Democrats, including major bank critic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have also argued a 2018 bank deregulation law is to blame.

☆ What to expect from the Senate hearings on recent bank failures
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Silicon Valley Bank’s liquidity crisis and subsequent downfall sent waves of panic through the financial system in early March, setting off a chain reaction of chaos with which regional banks are still grappling. On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee will continue with their own line of questioning. Sen. Brown has called for the executives of Silicon Valley Bank to be held accountable for the bank’s failure. “Our banking system is sound and resilient, with strong capital and liquidity,” Barr said. The failures of SVB and Signature Bank, he wrote, “demonstrate the implications that banks with assets over $100 billion can have for financial stability.

☆ Fed's Barr says first learned of risks at SVB weeks before it failed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve's head of banking supervision said Tuesday he was first made aware of the interest rate risk-related issues at Silicon Valley Bank in mid-February, just weeks before its failure. "The staff highlighted the interest-rate risk that was present at Silicon Valley Bank and indicated that they were in the middle of a further review," Barr said. "I believe that is the first time that I was told about interest-rate risk at Silicon Valley Bank." In mid-2022, Fed staff deemed the bank's management to be deficient and barred the bank from growing through mergers or acquisitions, Barr said. "To the best of my knowledge I first learned about the issues at Silicon Valley Bank with respect to interest rate risk in mid-February of 2023," Barr said.

☆ SVB failure is a ‘textbook case of mismanagement,’ top Fed regulator tells Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“SVB’s failure is a textbook case of mismanagement,” Barr says in testimony to be delivered before the Senate Banking Committee. “Our banking system is sound and resilient, with strong capital and liquidity,” Barr said. In his testimony, Barr discloses that near the end of 2021, bank supervisors found “deficiencies” in the bank’s liquidity risk management. That resulted in six supervisory findings linked to SVB’s liquidity stress testing, contingency funding and liquidity risk management. Barr said the Fed will weigh whether the applying those tougher rules to SVB would have helped the bank manage the risks that led to its failure.

☆ US stocks trade mixed as bank fears ebb with sale of SVB assets to First Citizens
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

US stocks traded mixed on Monday as markets assessed the latest banking sector news. Reports over the weekend of further government support for banks sent shares higher on Monday. A Senate hearing on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is slated for this week. First Citizens will acquire $72 billion of Silicon Valley Bank's assets for a $16.5 billion discount. The news spurred a rebound in regional bank stocks, which have been under pressure since SVB imploded earlier this month.

☆ Stock futures are flat on Monday evening: Live updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Stock futures inched higher in overnight trading after the S&P 500 posted its third positive session in a row and banking sector concerns continued to ease. Meanwhile, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.11% each. Investors fought to extend last week's gains, but tech shares came under pressure. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 194.55 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.16%. Beaten-up regional banking stocks, including First Republic , climbed along with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE ).

☆ Fed's Barr calls Silicon Valley Bank failure a 'textbook case of mismanagement'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Federal Reserve's top banking regulator said Monday that the failure of Silicon Valley Bank was due largely to mismanagement, though he noted that regulation and oversight also need to step up. "To begin, SVB's failure is a textbook case of mismanagement," he said. Along with the examination into what happened specifically with the bank, Barr also noted that the probe will examine whether the Fed's testing of risk was adequate. He pointed out that the supervisors identified problems with SVB's liquidity risk management as far back as late-2021. Part of the review also will look at whether more stringent standards would have pushed SVB to have a better handle on its liquidity risk.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - The banking crisis set off by the swift collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) has exposed a sharp disconnect between Washington and Wall Street. Some critics are asking whether the Biden administration could have contained the crisis with aggressive actions at the start. FINDING A BUYER FOR SVBThe failure of the nation's 16th largest bank caught regulators off guard. The banking industry itself is not united on how to reassure depositors. The banking industry is searching for sweeping relief to calm markets, while Washington is discussing how to prevent the next crisis.

[1/2] An employee holds the door open at the Silicon Valley Bank branch office in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., March 13, 2023. Supervision of large banks like SVB, which was the 16th biggest U.S. bank at the time of its failure, is a shared responsibility of bank examiners employed by the regional Fed bank and Fed Board staff in Washington. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said this week he wants to identify "what went wrong here". Bank examiners at San Francisco Fed had flagged escalating problems at the Santa Clara-based bank suggesting issues with its ability to meet short-term cash needs like depositor withdrawals. As San Francisco Fed chair, Mehran headed the search committee that hired Daly for the top job at the bank in 2018.

☆ Bank fears will likely lead to even more market volatility in the week ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Market turbulence could reign supreme once again in the week ahead, as investors worry about the potential for more trouble rippling through the banking system. The broader market was initially under pressure Friday as investors became jittery about Deutsche Bank . "The market is saying: 'You, the Fed, do not appreciate the slowdown that is going to hit us,'" Chandler said. "The market is going to do a lot better and it held onto its gains despite all the things that rocked the market. He added that market concern about banks has risen, and there is concern credit tightening will hurt the economy.

☆ Key lawmakers say upcoming hearings on bank failures aim to boost U.S. confidence in banking sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of lawmakers overseeing the recent turmoil in the banking sector said Wednesday that they aim to increase Americans' confidence in the banking industry after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed over the last two weeks. Regulators and lawmakers are also trying to contain further damage to the economy and reinforce confidence in the banking system. Sen. Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican and ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, also said writing new laws should take a back seat at the hearings to investigating what happened. We can't legislate that either in the financial sector or among financial institutions management, nor with the regulators." Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and chairman of Senate Banking Committee, compared the SVB collapse to the devastating train crash in East Palestine, Ohio.

The Fed raised its benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, the ninth straight policy meeting that ended with a rise in borrowing costs since the current tightening cycle began in March 2022. "It's really ... a question of not knowing at this point," Powell told reporters after the meeting. This is 12 days ago," that a pair of bank failures reshaped the financial landscape facing the central bank, with potential implications for the real economy and the path of inflation. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is holding hearings on the bank failures next week. "The challenges facing the (Federal Open Market Committee) today ... take on a particular aura of complexity."

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