Two years ago, the US was on the brink of its most serious set of bank failures since the financial storm of 2008. A clutch of regional banks, some the size of Europe’s larger lenders, hit the skids, including Silicon Valley Bank, whose demise came close to sparking a full-blown crisis. SVB’s crash had several immediate causes. Its bond holdings were crumbling in value as US interest rates pushed higher. With just a few taps on an app, the bank’s spooked and interconnected tech customer base yanked out deposits at an unsustainable pace, leaving multimillionaires crying out for federal assistance.
兩年前，美國面臨自2008年金融風暴以來最嚴重的銀行倒閉危機。一批地區性銀行，其中一些規模與歐洲的大型貸款機構相當，陷入困境，包括矽谷銀行(SVB)，其倒閉幾乎引發了一場全面危機。矽谷銀行的倒閉有幾個直接原因。隨著美國利率上升，其債券持有價值不斷下跌。只需輕點幾下程式，該銀行受到驚嚇且相互關聯的科技客戶羣就會以不可持續的速度取出存款，導致千萬富翁們大聲疾呼，要求聯邦政府提供援助。