Regulators close New York’s Signature Bank following Silicon Valley Bank collapse

The New York Department of Financial Services announced Sunday that it has taken possession of Signature Bank and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as the bank’s receiver. The move comes two days after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed as depositors rushed to withdraw funds.

At more than $110 billion in assets, Signature Bank is the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history, the Associated Press reported.

The bank is FDIC-insured and had assets of around $110.36 billion, with total deposits of about $88.59 billion as of Dec. 31, 2022, DFS said in a statement. Both figures were roughly half of what SVB had at the end of 2022, according to the FDIC.

All depositors will be made whole, the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and FDIC said Sunday in a joint statement. 

“Shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected,” the agencies said. “Senior management has also been removed. Any losses to the Deposit Insurance Fund to support uninsured depositors will be recovered by a special assessment on banks, as required by law.”

The joint statement also said that Silicon Valley Bank depositors would have access to “all of their money” beginning Monday. For both SVB and Signature Bank, “no losses associated by the resolution” of the banks would be borne by the taxpayer, the statement added.

Earlier Sunday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told “Face the Nation” that the federal government will not provide a bailout for SVB’s investors. 

“We’re not going to do that again,” she said. “But we are concerned about depositors, and we’re focused on trying to meet their needs.”