Employees at SVB Earned Bonuses Hours Before the Government Took Over

According to persons with knowledge of the payments, Silicon Valley Bank staff got their yearly bonuses on Friday, just hours before authorities seized the failing bank.

According to the sources, who requested anonymity because they were discussing staff incentives, the Santa Clara, California-based bank has always given out bonuses on the second Friday of March. According to the sources, the payments were already in progress days before the bank collapsed and were made for work completed in 2022.

Bonus Day fell on SVB’s last day of independence this year, a coincidence. The institution was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) at noon on Friday as it was experiencing a bank run that had been started by anxious venture capitalists and startup entrepreneurs.

According to the sources, SVB CEO Greg Becker told staff in a two-minute video on Friday that he was no longer in charge of making decisions at the 40-year-old bank.

The compensation amounts could not be determined, but according to Glassdoor.com, SVB incentives vary from roughly $12,000 for associates to $140,000 for managing directors.

With an average salary of $250,683 for that year, SVB was the highest-paying publicly traded bank, according to Bloomberg.

According to the persons, the FDIC provided 45 days of employment to SVB workers following its seizure. As of December, the bank employed 8,528 people.

The FDIC’s spokesman declined to comment on the awards.