Near Miss: A Bank Collapse and a Crisis Averted 03/13/23

Squawk Pod

Mar 13 2023 • 36 mins

Did we dodge the bullet? Federal agencies on Sunday approved plans to safeguard depositors affected by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, and the Federal Reserve is creating a Bank Term Funding Program to secure financial institutions from instability amid the SVB failure. Squawk Box’s Becky Quick, Andrew Ross Sorkin and Steve Liesman discuss the near-miss, how government action prevented a broader financial crisis, and the moral hazard of the federal action.  Alexis Ohanian, venture capitalist and Reddit co-founder, describes the 72 hours of chaos experienced by young, start-up companies following the shutdown of Silicon Valley Bank.  The veteran entrepreneur who also funds early-stage companies said venture capitalists raised the alarm but should say “thank you” for the government backstop.  And, Camp cp-founder Ben Kaufman runs his business from the funds in his Silicon Valley Bank account; he shares the anxiety he felt over the weekend, looking for a cash infusion.

In this episode:

Alexis Ohanian,@alexisohanian

Ben Kaufman, @benkaufman

Steve Liesman, @steveliesman

Andrew Ross Sorkin, @andrewrsorkin
Becky Quick, @BeckyQuick

Katie Kramer, @Kramer_Katie