Silicon Valley Bank workers were paid bonuses just hours before it collapsed, report says

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Silicon Valley Bank workers were paid bonuses just hours before it collapsed, report says
Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators on Friday.Getty Images
  • Silicon Valley Bank workers received bonuses just hours before the bank collapsed, CNBC reported.
  • CNBC's sources said the payments were for work done by staff in 2022.
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Silicon Valley Bank workers were paid annual bonuses just hours before the bank collapsed, according to a report by CNBC.

The payments were for 2022, unnamed sources told the outlet, and had been processed before regulators shut the bank down as it usually paid bonuses on the second Friday of March each year.

The report didn't say how much the payouts totaled, but according to the website Glassdoor, bonuses range from just under $12,000 for associates to up to about $140,000 for managing directors. Other roles could get as little as $2,263.

SVB employees in other countries will receive their bonuses later this month, Axios reported, as the bank's non-US operations have not been affected.

The bank's CEO, Greg Becker, sent a two-minute video to employees Friday, telling them he no longer made decisions amid the collapse, per CNBC.

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The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took control of SVB Friday after California regulators shut it down when a failed $2.3 billion capital raise sent its stock crashing.

The FDIC emailed an unknown number of SVB employees, offering them employment for the next 45 days, Bloomberg reported. The bank had 8,553 staff as of December, according to its annual filing.

According to a 2019 Bloomberg report, SVB employees were paid an average of $250,683, making the bank the highest-paying publicly traded bank the previous year. Per Glassdoor's latest update on March 9, the highest-paid role at SVB was managing director with a salary of $583,566.

The collapse – the biggest US bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis – has left hundreds of startups in limbo as they try to continue operating while their cash remains locked up.

Silicon Valley Bank didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

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