Biden asserts banking crisis has subsided
Jeff Mason and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the banking crisis had subsided after the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and its signatories.
By ensuring the global banking system is safe, Mr Biden said, even as financial stocks have lost thousands of dollars in value since a mid-sized US financial institution collapsed last week. Mr. Biden earlier this week promised Americans that their deposits would be safe.
When asked by journalists at the White House on Friday whether the banking crisis had subsided, Mr. Biden said “yes.”
California regulators shut down the SVB last Friday, naming it the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He was mayor of Washington Mutual during the 2008 financial crisis.
On Friday, the bank’s president, SVB Financial Group, said it had requested a restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
A big American bank poured $30 billion and deposits into First Republic Bank a day earlier to help bail out mid-sized borrowers in crisis caused by the bankruptcies of SVB and signatories.
Earlier in the day, Biden called on Congress to give regulators greater power over the banking sector. This includes increasing executive fines, collecting executive compensation, and removing banking and bankruptcy officials.
(Edited in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)