US regulators close New York's Signature Bank following Silicon Valley Bank collapse

NEW YORK - New York-based Signature Bank, a key lender in the crypto industry, was shut down Sunday by state regulators over a "similar systemic risk exception", the US Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said in a joint statement.

The move came two days after California's Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapsed as depositors rushed to withdraw funds.

All depositors of Signature Bank "will be made whole", said the joint statement. "As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer."

The authorities also said "shareholders and certain unsecured debtholders will not be protected".

Founded in 2001, Signature Bank is a New York state-chartered commercial bank and is FDIC-insured, with total assets of approximately 110.36 billion US dollars and total deposits of approximately 88.59 billion dollars as of Dec 31, 2022, according to a separate statement released on Sunday evening by the New York Department of Financial Services.

California authorities closed SVB on Friday after the tech-focused lender reported huge losses from securities sales, sparking a run on the bank's deposits.

The SVB collapse is the largest bank failure since the collapse of US savings and loan association Washington Mutual in 2008.

The Fed on Sunday announced a new emergency loan program to bolster the capacity of the banking system.