In a statement Sunday evening, President Joe Biden said he was “pleased” with how the Treasury Department and other agencies responded in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history.
Biden said he would more thoroughly address the collapse of the SVB and the shutdown of the New York-based Signature Bank, including the worries of workers and depositors, on Monday morning.
“At my direction, [Treasury Secretary Janet] Yellen and my National Economic Council Director worked with banking regulators to address problems at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank,” Biden noted on Twitter Sunday night. “I’m pleased they reached a solution that protects workers, small businesses, taxpayers, and our financial system.”
The president also vowed accountability for those responsible, without specifying any particular actions his administration would take.
“I’m firmly committed to holding those responsible for this mess fully accountable and to continuing our efforts to strengthen oversight and regulation of larger banks so that we are not in this position again,” Biden said.
He added: “I’ll have more to say on this tomorrow morning.”
In a separate tweet, Biden said Americans should remain confident their bank deposits will be accessible “when they need them.”
FORMER CEO OF UBS ISSUES HARSH WARNING ON SVB COLLAPSE: THIS WILL GIVE CONSUMERS ‘A LOT OF ANXIETY’
The president’s brief comments echo those in a joint statement released by the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) earlier in the day.
“Today we are taking decisive actions to protect the U.S. economy by strengthening public confidence in our banking system,” the joint statement read. “This step will ensure that the U.S. banking system continues to perform its vital roles of protecting deposits and providing access to credit to households and businesses in a manner that promotes strong and sustainable economic growth.”
According to the statement, Secretary Yellen already approved actions enabling the FDIC to resolve the SVB collapse “in a manner that fully protects depositors.”
Depositors’ money will be available starting Monday, March 13, the regulators said.
The statement continued: “The U.S. banking system remains resilient and on a solid foundation, in large part due to reforms that were made after the financial crisis that ensured better safeguards for the banking industry. Those reforms combined with today’s actions demonstrate our commitment to take the necessary steps to ensure that depositors’ savings remain safe.”
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SVB, the 16th-largest bank in the U.S., failed Friday when depositors rushed to withdraw cash amid worries over the bank’s health.
The largest U.S. bank to collapse was Washington Mutual in 2008.
Fox Business’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.