By Daniel Lanyon on Wednesday 15 March 2023
The relief felt by many in the startup world in the past 48 hours, has been replaced in the wider financial industry with concern about other banks’ health.
Tim Mayopoulos is just a few days into his new job as CEO of the nearly-collapsed lender Silicon Valley Bank.
Mayopoulos, who was appointed by the F.D.I.C over the weekend, is a former lawyer and president of the fintech company Blend. He has a tough job ahead in sifting through the bank’s assets and stabilising its balance sheet and most important relationships.
“We are doing everything we can to rebuild, win back your confidence, and continue supporting the innovation economy. We recognise the past few days have been an extremely challenging time, and we are grateful for your patience,” he said yesterday.
Despite the huge task, Mayopoulos also has said the bank will take on new business.
“We are open for business and are hard at work bringing all systems and solutions back online to support you. We are making new loans and fully honouring existing credit facilities,” he said in a statement to clients yesterday,” he added.
“We are also open for business for any new customers. We are actively opening new accounts of all sizes and making new loans,” he said.
Mayopoulos appealed to clients, who number thousands of tech startups and scaleups as well as VC investors.
“The number one thing you can do to support the future of this institution is to help us rebuild our deposit base, both by leaving deposits with Silicon Valley Bridge Bank and transferring back deposits that left over the last several days,” he said.
