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State regulators closed New York-based Signature Bank (SBNY.O) on Sunday, the third largest failure in U.S. banking history, two days after authorities shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) in a collapse that stranded billions in deposits.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) took control of Signature, which had $110.36 billion in assets and $88.59 billion in deposits at the end of last year, according to New York state’s Department of Financial Services.
All of the depositors of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank will be made whole, and “no losses will be borne by the taxpayer,” the U.S. Treasury Department and other bank regulators said in a joint statement.
Employees appeared to gather at the company’s Manhattan headquarters for meetings on Sunday, ordering catering from Carmine’s, an Italian restaurant, and Starbucks coffee, according to a Reuters reporter on the scene. People trickled out of the building after the news of the closure was announced.
Representatives for the lender did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Signature’s failure followed Silicon Valley Bank’s Friday shutdown, the second largest in U.S. history behind Washington Mutual, which collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.
Investors were unnerved by the speed at which startup-focused SVB, the 16th largest lender in the U.S., was toppled by customer withdrawals. The episode last week erased more than $100 billion in market value from U.S. banks, prompting swift action from government officials over the weekend to try and restore confidence in the financial system.
