Silicon Valley Bank’s UK arm paid out more than £15m in bonuses days after the bailout
The UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank paid out more than £15m in bonds days after a Bank of England bailout saved it from collapse.
The UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has paid out more than £15m in bonuses to employees just days after a Bank of England bailout saved it from collapse.
Days after HSBC approved insolvency bailout payments to staff, including its top executives, this week, according to Sky News.
The bonus fund was described as “modest” with sources stating it amounted to £15–20 million.
Another said the payments were a sign of HSBC’s confidence in the talent base and that the buyer was keen to honor previously agreed payments to retain key staff.
It has not been confirmed how much was awarded to the UK bank’s chief executive, Erin Platts, or her senior colleagues.
The UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has paid out more than £15m in employee bonuses just days after it was saved from collapse.
It has not been confirmed how much was awarded to the UK bank’s chief executive, Erin Platts, who moved to the British arm in 2007.
SVB UK is led by Erin Platts, an American who joined its US parent company in 2004 before moving to Britain in 2007 and taking over as head of UK and Europe in 2019.
SVB UK was on the brink of insolvency last weekend due to the woes of its American parent company, according to Sky News.
Platts tried to reassure clients earlier this month, hours before the Bank of England intervened, saying the company was an independent entity with its own governance and balance sheet.
It is believed that if the bank had not been acquired in a solvent manner, the bonuses would not have been issued to its employees.
HSBC bought the UK arm of SVB, insuring the deposits of more than 3,000 customers worth £6.7bn, this month for just £1.
The sudden collapse of SVB’s US parent shocked global markets as it became the biggest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
Bonuses were also paid to its American staff just hours before the bank collapsed, according to reports last week.
In the US, parent company SVB Financial Group said on Friday it had filed for a court-supervised reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings to seek buyers for its assets, days after US regulators took over the former Silicon Valley Bank unit.
Founded in 1982, SVB was the largest bank in Silicon Valley, specializing in lending to start-up technology companies.
Mail Online has contacted HSBC for comment.
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