Report faults Fed staff for epic failure of Silicon Valley Bank

Staffers at the Federal Reserve knew or should have known about the severe trouble mounting at Silicon Valley Bank, but failed to act before the lender’s implosion set off a mini-banking crisis in 2023, according to an independent review revealed on Friday.

The preliminary report, as detailed by Fed officials, adds to the blame game over the second-largest banking failure in American history , an event that prompted Fed and Biden administration officials to scramble to put out the fire before it spread.

In a speech on Friday, Michelle Bowman, the top banking regulator at the Fed, said the independent report found that Silicon Valley Bank “failed as the result of confluence of vulnerabilities” that included mounting losses on securities, a deposit base that was prone to bank runs and a lack of readiness to borrow from a critical Fed program.

“Our supervisory staff knew, or should have known, about these vulnerabilities as early as March 2022,” Bowman said, summarizing the preliminary findings.

Even though Fed officials knew or should have known about the trouble, Bowman said staffers failed to take “prompt and decisive action” that could have prevented the collapse.

“One significant factor contributing to supervisory inaction was a long-standing culture of risk aversion,” said Bowman, whom President Donald Trump nominated last year to become the Fed’s vice chair for supervision. “Staff believed it was personally safer to take no action unless they were certain the action was exactly right.”

Bowman added that the cultural problems were compounded by a “lack of clarity” over decision-making among supervisory staffers.

“This review is not about assigning blame. Instead, it is about learning lessons from the past to avoid repeating them in the future,” Bowman said.

The Fed did not release a copy of the report, which was conducted by Starling Advisory Group. Starling did not immediately respond to an inquiry from CNN.

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

Former Silicon Valley Bank CEO: ‘I am truly sorry’

By pointing the finger at Fed regulators, Bowman’s overview of the preliminary findings highlight failures that would have occurred under her predecessor, Michael Barr.

Barr, a Biden-nominated official, served as the Fed’s top regulator between July 2022 and early last year. After stepping down as vice chair for supervision, Barr remained on the Fed’s powerful Board of Governors and still votes on interest rate decisions.

Trump blasted Fed officials this week for raising interest rates for the first time in three years. He praised Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, his handpicked Fed chief, but condemned the “very hostile” and “very political” board.

Analysts told CNN on Friday that it’s possible Trump could use the new report on Silicon Valley Bank to try to force out Barr, opening up a vacancy for a Trump-aligned nominee.

“It’s hard to say for sure, but there’s no getting around that suspicion,” especially after Trump’s recent criticism of the Fed board, Benson Durham, a former Fed official, told CNN.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, sharply criticized Bowman over the Silicon Valley Bank review.

Warren said in a statement on Friday that Bowman has “wasted taxpayer resources” on a third-party “autopsy that magically and conveniently exonerates her and President Trump of any wrongdoing.”

“It’s an embarrassing attempt to rewrite history designed to pave the way for more dangerous deregulation that will lead to the next Silicon Valley Bank disaster,” Warren said.

根据周五公布的一份独立审查报告，美联储工作人员知道或应该知道硅谷银行日益严重的麻烦，但未能在该银行倒闭引发 2023 年小型银行业危机之前采取行动。

美联储官员详细介绍的这份初步报告，加剧了美国历史上第二大银行倒闭事件的相互指责，这一事件促使美联储和拜登政府官员争分夺秒地扑灭这场大火，以免其蔓延。

美联储首席银行监管官米歇尔·鲍曼在周五的演讲中表示，独立报告发现硅谷银行的倒闭是“多种脆弱因素共同作用的结果”，这些脆弱因素包括证券损失不断增加、存款基础容易发生挤兑以及缺乏从美联储关键计划中借款的准备。

鲍曼在总结初步调查结果时说：“我们的监管人员早在 2022 年 3 月就知道或应该知道这些漏洞。”

鲍曼表示，尽管美联储官员知道或应该知道这个问题，但工作人员未能采取“迅速果断的行动”来阻止崩盘。

“导致监管不作为的一个重要因素是长期以来根深蒂固的风险规避文化，”鲍曼说道。他去年被唐纳德·特朗普总统提名为美联储负责监管的副主席。“工作人员认为，除非他们确信采取行动绝对正确，否则不采取任何行动对他们个人而言更安全。”

鲍曼补充说，管理人员在决策方面“缺乏清晰度”，加剧了文化问题。

鲍曼说：“这次审查不是为了追究责任，而是为了从过去吸取教训，避免将来重蹈覆辙。”

美联储并未公布这份由斯塔林咨询集团（Starling Advisory Group）完成的报告。斯塔林咨询集团尚未回复CNN的问询。

Patrick T. Fallon/法新社/盖蒂图片社

硅谷前银行首席执行官：“我深感抱歉”

鲍曼将矛头指向美联储监管机构，她对初步调查结果的概述突显了在她前任迈克尔·巴尔领导下可能出现的失误。

巴尔是拜登提名的官员，于2022年7月至去年年初担任美联储最高监管官员。卸任监管副主席后，巴尔仍留在美联储权力强大的理事会，并继续参与利率决策的投票。

本周，特朗普猛烈抨击美联储官员，指责他们三年来首次加息。他赞扬了自己钦点的美联储主席凯文·沃什，但谴责美联储理事会“充满敌意”且“政治色彩浓厚”。

分析人士周五告诉 CNN，特朗普有可能利用有关硅谷银行的新报告来逼走巴尔，从而为特朗普的提名人选腾出空缺。

“很难说清楚，但这种怀疑是无法消除的，”前美联储官员本森·杜伦告诉 CNN，尤其是在特朗普最近批评美联储理事会之后。

参议院银行委员会首席民主党议员伊丽莎白·沃伦参议员对鲍曼在硅谷银行审查中的表现提出了严厉批评。

沃伦周五在一份声明中表示，鲍曼“浪费了纳税人的资源”，进行第三方“尸检，神奇而方便地洗清了她和特朗普总统的任何罪名”。

沃伦说：“这是企图篡改历史的可耻之举，其目的是为更危险的放松管制铺平道路，这将导致下一场硅谷银行灾难。”