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Late last Saturday night, Jason Calacanis, a prominent internet entrepreneur and investor, hit the caps button on his keyboard and tweeted out a warning about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. “YOU SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED RIGHT NOW — THAT IS THE PROPER REACTION TO A BANK RUN AND CONTAGION,” he wrote. “THIS WILL SPIRAL

Investors have wiped nearly half a trillion dollars from the value of bank shares around the world in the worst rout for the financial sector since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Financial stocks dived this week as the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank spread through global markets. Banks in the US,

US regulators are willing to entertain the prospect of backstopping losses at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank if it helps push through a sale of the failed lenders, according to people briefed on the matter. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s willingness to discussing loss-sharing marks a significant shift in position for the agency, which

As shares in their companies were tanking this week, a small group of European bank bosses sat down in London for a dinner of saffron risotto, salmon and asparagus and agreed that the market reaction to the collapse of a Californian lender was overblown. The chief executives were adamant that investors were “underestimating” the strength

Scotland’s governing Scottish National party needs a leader who can widen support for independence by respecting and listening to those who favour union with the UK, finance secretary and leadership candidate Kate Forbes has said. In an interview with the Financial Times, Forbes, 32, also sought to ease tensions within the SNP heightened by her

Northern Rock, Bear Stearns, Countrywide Financial and Alliance & Leicester. Back in late 2007 and early 2008, when they all failed or were rescued, none of the above was systemically important. And few observers would have predicted the nightmarish crisis that was to strike within the year, felling behemoths from Wall Street’s venerable Lehman Brothers

Russia’s Sberbank will send $3.6bn to the state coffers this spring as part of a record dividend payout, even as its profits collapsed last year due to western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. This marked a record in terms of share of profit paid out. In previous years, the bank distributed just 40-56

In Downing Street, they talk about the narrow “landing strip” on to which Rishi Sunak might steer his party to victory at the next election. Millions of undecided voters, they hope, will have appreciated Jeremy Hunt’s assured performance at this week’s Budget, and Sunak’s deals on Northern Ireland with the EU, and on submarines with

The parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, the lender taken over by US regulators last week, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a federal court in New York. The move by SVB Financial Group is an attempt to salvage value from two units — a broker-dealer and a technology investing business — that are

Michael Heseltine is a little late, his car detained by a slow-moving “handmaid’s march” protest in Piccadilly, staged by red-caped women. When he enters the restaurant, tall, unstooped, his famous mane swept back, diners’ heads turn. Hezza, “Tarzan”, Margaret Thatcher’s nemesis, is about to turn 90 but you wouldn’t guess it. “A glass of Chablis,

The writer is the author of several books on the City and Wall Street Last weekend’s rescue of SVB UK was a win for HSBC and the City of London at a time when both needed it. Under pressure from Chinese insurer Ping An to split its Asian and western operations, HSBC used the confidence

It was a particularly bloody day for technology companies when Greg Becker, then the chief executive of Silicon Valley Bank, appeared on CNBC in late August. The tech-heavy Nasdaq stock index was down 2 per cent that session alone. Yet Becker was his usual reassuring presence. The market correction would ultimately be healthy for the

Wall Street chief executives are occasionally willing to come together to support a good cause. The gathering organised by Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve boss Jay Powell on Thursday was not quite a traditional charity event, however. The US’s biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Well Fargo, Bank of America and several others

A rally in European stocks eased in morning trade on Friday, as investors’ concerns over the region’s banks ate away at the boost of the US rescue package to shore up struggling lender First Republic Bank. The region-wide Stoxx 600 was up 0.6 per cent, while Germany’s Dax rose 0.6 per cent and France’s Cac

Chinese president Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday in a move that will reaffirm the leaders’ strong ties despite western condemnation of Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. China’s foreign ministry said Xi and Putin would have “in-depth exchanges on bilateral relations and important international and regional issues

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s sweeping boost to UK pension tax breaks looks set to benefit many higher earners, including doctors, lawyers and bankers. But this week’s announcements raise as many questions as they give answers. Pensioners and pension savers alike are trying to work out what it means for them. Tax planners have been flooded with

Housing shortages, affordability crises and Nimbyism are growing problems in many countries, but it’s remarkable how much worse things have become in the English-speaking world. Forty years ago, the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland had roughly 400 homes per 1,000 residents, level with developed continental European countries. Since then the two groups

At the start of this week, I thought nothing could be more darkly funny than a libertarian-tinged entity called Silicon Valley Bank requiring a rescue by regulators. But I was wrong. Something could be funnier — namely, an attempt to blame the bank’s collapse on the diverse make-up of its board. Silicon Valley Bank, critics

Top Republicans are urging the White House to crack down on nuclear co-operation between Russia and China following reports that Moscow’s state-owned nuclear energy company is providing highly enriched uranium to Beijing. In a letter sent to US National Security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday, the chairs of the House armed services, foreign affairs and

Activist investor Carl Icahn has urged the Federal Reserve to stay the course in the fight against the “disease of inflation” despite the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and two other banks last week. “I think you have to stamp out the disease of inflation,” Icahn told the Financial Times. “[Jay] Powell is completely right,”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has abandoned plans to make sovereign wealth funds pay corporation tax on property and commercial enterprises after cabinet warnings that the move would hit inward investment and depress growth. Kemi Badenoch, business and trade secretary, led pressure on the Treasury to drop the proposals after warnings that SWFs, which include some of