On the face of it, the takeover of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank by HSBC is a triumph for the government. Today, we could have been seeing the collapse of dozens of UK tech start-ups. We could have seen staff going unpaid and shares in tech companies plunging to greater depths than they have yet explored during the correction of the past year.
Instead, things are fairly calm in the tech sector. Well before markets opened this morning, the government had brokered a deal which will allow the Silicon Valley Bank’s facilities to continue without a hitch, thanks to a wholesale takeover by one of the largest banking institutions in the world, with all the security that would seem to offer. Even better, not a penny of public money seems to be involved.
As we are now discovering, the unwinding of ultra-low interest rates is creating serious problems worldwide
Investors with longer memories will recall how in 2008 Gordon Brown’s government similarly persuaded Lloyds Bank to take over Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS).
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