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Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

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Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#191
post #160
post #26

Good. Investors like Ackman and Cuban seem so concerned about payroll for tech workers. The truth is that the vast majority of this cash was dry powder for acquisitions, staying liquid for new new investments, fresh VC money for advertising. Isn’t it these same folks who remind us all the time that most startups fail? Why bail out an entire bank when 99% of its startup depositors wouldn’t have made it anyway? If anyt…

I guess that’s true if you are a Roku or a Roblox, but how can you say that about sub-50 person company still trying to find its footing?

The same thing people tell 22 year olds trying to find their footing who invested in the wrong degree.

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#192
post #176
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? Easy, pay out $250K per account, then distribute the rest pro rata based upon closing balance from when the fed's took over. If they have to wait because assets need to be liquidated then sucks to be them. I'm sure they can get their money faster if they agree to a haircut. > “This is a bail…

This is short sighted. If the government doesn’t make depositors whole then people and companies all over the world lose trust in US banks and eventually US dollars. This is a federal problem. It makes sense to make depositors whole, they’re innocent here. It doesn’t make sense to make SVB whole for managing their risk poorly.

> If the government doesn’t make depositors whole then people and companies all over the world lose trust in US banks and eventually US dollars. This is a federal problem.

I fail to see how the government doing exactly what the law says and what they've always said they will do makes people lose trust in the US.

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#193
post #153

I see a lot of unexpected saltiness and clear misconceptions in any thread about SVB. “Depositors shouldn’t get anything beyond the insured $250,000”. Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? “This is a bailout”. It would be if shareholders were to get their money back, which doesn’t seem likely. The government will use the bank asse…

> Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? Easy, pay out $250K per account, then distribute the rest pro rata based upon closing balance from when the fed's took over. If they have to wait because assets need to be liquidated then sucks to be them. I'm sure they can get their money faster if they agree to a haircut. > “This is a bail…

> Money to depositors for amounts greater than $250K is a bail out. They have no right to that money from the Feds.

I’m surprised to hear this perspective.

I think most people understand a bailout as cash injection. Not that you get more than what the government insures.

If it were the latter then bailouts happen all the time without bank failures or FDIC takeovers (all transfer > 250k).

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#194
post #148

Eh, the depositors aren’t totally blameless here. On Thursday they conspired to perform a huge bank run on SVB, on Friday they succeeded, and on Saturday they were demanding the government and taxpayers make them whole by Monday. They deserve to get their money back and they eventually will once SVB’s assets are liquidated. But that’s not good enough, they want it now , and they won’t hesitate to make you pay for the…

I don't think it's fair to blame the SVB depositors for the bank run. Perhaps you can blame public figures (VCs etc) who catalyzed it. Once a run starts, though, it's in your interest to run too.

If you had >250k in SVB and you managed to get it out before it was shut down, you'd be pretty happy with yourself right now. If you run a business and have an obligation to share-holders, it would be negligent not to try this at least.

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#195
post #176
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? Easy, pay out $250K per account, then distribute the rest pro rata based upon closing balance from when the fed's took over. If they have to wait because assets need to be liquidated then sucks to be them. I'm sure they can get their money faster if they agree to a haircut. > “This is a bail…

This is short sighted. If the government doesn’t make depositors whole then people and companies all over the world lose trust in US banks and eventually US dollars. This is a federal problem. It makes sense to make depositors whole, they’re innocent here. It doesn’t make sense to make SVB whole for managing their risk poorly.

[deleted]

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#196
post #176
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? Easy, pay out $250K per account, then distribute the rest pro rata based upon closing balance from when the fed's took over. If they have to wait because assets need to be liquidated then sucks to be them. I'm sure they can get their money faster if they agree to a haircut. > “This is a bail…

This is short sighted. If the government doesn’t make depositors whole then people and companies all over the world lose trust in US banks and eventually US dollars. This is a federal problem. It makes sense to make depositors whole, they’re innocent here. It doesn’t make sense to make SVB whole for managing their risk poorly.

No, they’ll have high trust that amounts up to $250K are covered. Because that’s what’s covered.

Any treasurer or CFO with half a brain knows that.

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#197

I see a lot of unexpected saltiness and clear misconceptions in any thread about SVB. “Depositors shouldn’t get anything beyond the insured $250,000”. Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? “This is a bailout”. It would be if shareholders were to get their money back, which doesn’t seem likely. The government will use the bank asse…

This whole saga has exposed the shocking financial illiteracy in this industry. There are laws and procedures about how to handle the situation. Banks fail all the time and the FDIC disposes of them all the time. Depositors will get their insured money on monday. The FDIC will then dispose of all the banks assets and return the proceeds to its creditors, that is depositors. Calling for the government to guarantee all…

Second biggest bank failure in the history of the US requires exceptions to be made due to the sheer volume of companies and assets involved here.

We don’t want to erode global trust in US banks and dollars do we?

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#198
post #153

I see a lot of unexpected saltiness and clear misconceptions in any thread about SVB. “Depositors shouldn’t get anything beyond the insured $250,000”. Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? “This is a bailout”. It would be if shareholders were to get their money back, which doesn’t seem likely. The government will use the bank asse…

> Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? Easy, pay out $250K per account, then distribute the rest pro rata based upon closing balance from when the fed's took over. If they have to wait because assets need to be liquidated then sucks to be them. I'm sure they can get their money faster if they agree to a haircut. > “This is a bail…

[deleted]

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#199

I see a lot of unexpected saltiness and clear misconceptions in any thread about SVB. “Depositors shouldn’t get anything beyond the insured $250,000”. Then what do we do with the billions in remaining assets? Appropriate them, and leave small and mid businesses hanged to dry? “This is a bailout”. It would be if shareholders were to get their money back, which doesn’t seem likely. The government will use the bank asse…

I just don’t understand why folks on the internet are so passionate about the depositors being hit by this. In terms of avoiding moral hazard they are about as far down the list as possible, and bankruptcy law supports that.

First stock holders get wiped out (common then preferred), then debt holders (folks who have lent money to SVB won’t get their money back), only then would it hit depositors - and in the case of a traditional bank it usually wouldn’t hit them hard since most funds are FDIC insured.

I can imagine being incensed about stockholders and debt holders being made whole, if that were to happen - since then people would learn the wrong lesson here. But nobody think that’s going to happen.

If depositors aren’t protected, then it’s going to have a lot of downstream impacts (people won’t make payroll, and employees who have no responsibility won’t get paid). And again, it’s not like folks who chose were gambling with a shady bank to get high interest rates, in many ways SVB was considered the least risky and most conservative bank to use as a startup. At least that’s why we chose it.

Re: Yellen says government will help SVB depositors but rules out bailout

#200
As others have said, if depositors are bailed out, it's a bailout. Pretending that changing the definition makes a difference is childish.

Whatever the government decides to do, this makes the VC and startup industry look really weak and entitled, and knocks them down from risk takers building the future to the same status as a bunch of bankers looking for a handout.

There was an opportunity here for VCs with lots of clout, YC included, to come up with a private solution to backstop this. It would have shown independence, maturity, and that more government oversight and intervention is not needed. That adults can take care of themselves.

Instead they went whining to the government, made a petition, tweeted sadly, and whatever else. It's unbecoming of an industry that's supposed to be scrappy and have an appetite for risk.

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