LONDON, March 13 (Xinhua) — HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, announced on Monday that it has acquired the British branch of failed US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) for one pound sterling (about 1.21 U.S. dollars). ) symbolic. This decision should save a large number of British start-ups from colossal losses.
“This acquisition has excellent strategic relevance to our UK business,” HSBC Group CEO Noel Quinn said in a statement, adding that SVB UK customers “can continue to bank as usual. , knowing that their deposits are backed by the strength, safety and security of HSBC.”
HSBC, headquartered in London, is one of the largest banking and financial services institutions in the world, serving 39 million customers worldwide, according to the UK government.
In a statement on Monday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said the UK government and the Bank of England had facilitated the private sale of SVB UK. This “ensures that customer deposits are protected and can continue normal banking activity, without the need for taxpayer support”, he added.
This acquisition replaces the Bank of England’s decision on Friday to place SVB UK in insolvency proceedings. “SVB UK has a limited presence in the UK and no critical financial system support functions,” the central bank said in a statement.
California authorities closed SVB, then the 16th largest bank in the United States, last Friday after the tech-focused lending institution suffered massive losses from the sale of securities, sparking a rush to withdraw deposits from the bank. bank. END