Former UBS CEO Robert Wolf is sounding the alarm on the disorienting downfall of Silicon Valley Bank – one of the nation’s largest banks – warning Americans that the U.S. economy is withstanding “harsh times.”
“This is viewed as unbelievable. Yes, this is a harsh time, but this is nothing like Lehman. Lehman was a contagion that spread across the globe. This is nothing like that. This is definitely going to cause a lot of anxiety,” argued during an appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
“I believe one of two things will happen. One, either someone’s going to come in over the weekend – like a JPMorgan Chase – and buy Silicon Valley Bank because this is a great bank to buy. It’s very unique with these type of venture companies that you’ll be able to bank,” the former Obama economic adviser explained. “Or number two, the FDIC is going to do something they never really do. FDIC insurance, I’m sorry to prolong it, is only insured up to $250,000… but there’s enough coverage here to give all the depositors 50% to 75% of their money immediately.”
SILICON VALLEY BANK GAVE COMPANY-WIDE BONUSES HOURS BEFORE IT COLLAPSED: REPORT
The closure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was announced by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Friday, marking the worst U.S. financial institution failure in nearly 15 years.
SVB was the 16th largest bank in the United States until Friday afternoon. It failed after anxious depositors rushed to withdraw money over concern for the bank’s health.
FOX Business senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino issued his own analysis of the economic implosion during an earlier appearance on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Sunday.
Gasparino bolstered the former UBS CEO’s assertion, arguing that the Silicon Valley Bank failure is an incriminating sign that the U.S. banking system and economy are in peril.
“I think this is something that affects all Americans, and this is a warning sign of just how screwed up the plumbing in our banking system, our economy is. Let’s rewind the videotape a little bit here. You know, we’ve had years and years of printing money by the Federal Reserve – way too much. Even when we were coming out of the pandemic, we had the Biden administration spending a lot of money. You do stuff like that, you mess with the economy like that,” he said to co-host Pete Hegseth.
“You screw around with the economy like we did, doing really stupid stuff, Joe Biden spending all that money when he didn’t have to. When we were out of the pandemic, the Fed just kept keeping interest rates low, printing money. You do that, you’re going to get inflation. When you get inflation, you’re going to raise interest rates because inflation is horrible. It destabilizes societies, economies. When it comes down and when you deal with that, well, guess what? You’re going to have these sorts of disturbances. This is a warning sign of possibly more to come,” Gasparino concluded.
FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy contributed to this report.