Government Won’t Bail Out Silicon Valley Bank – Yellen

The federal government won’t bail out the failed Silicon Valley Bank, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday — after it emerged that the bank’s workers landed bonuses just hours before Friday’s collapse.

Depositors could now get back as little as 30% of their money during an anticipated run on the bank Monday morning, a report said Sunday.

Yellen, appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” balked at the government rescuing the nation’s 16th-largest bank, as was done for hundreds of institutions during the financial crisis in 2008.

“During the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out,” Yellen said. “And the reforms that have been put in place means that we’re not going to do that again.”

Yellen still insisted that officials are “concerned about depositors and are focused on trying to meet their needs.”

Customers are widely expected to make a run on Silicon Valley Bank on Monday morning when cash covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is supposed to be available.

“I’ve been working all weekend with our banking regulators to design appropriate policies to address this situation,” Yellen said Sunday.

“I can’t really provide further details at this time.”