March 23, 2023

Brown, Scott to CEOs: You Must Answer for Your Banks' Downfalls

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Ranking Member of the Committee, sent letters to Gregory Becker, former CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, and Joseph DePaolo, former CEO of Signature Bank, to call on them to testify in front of the Committee to answer for the banks’ collapse.

“Your testimony would provide substantial information relevant to SVB’s failure and could be provided without necessarily disclosing confidential supervisory information. You also do not need bank records and files to provide informative testimony on the topics outlined above,” wrote the Senators in their letter to Becker. “In short, as the former CEO of SVB, you must answer for the bank’s downfall.”

Tuesday, Brown released a statement announcing the first of several hearings on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.  

A copy of the letter to DePaolo can be found here. A copy of the letter to Becker is available here and below:

Dear Mr. Becker:

As you are aware, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will examine the events leading up to the closure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) by the California banking authorities on March 10. The Committee will hold a hearing titled “Recent Bank Failures and the Federal Regulatory Response” on March 28, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. You have indicated you are unable to testify at that hearing to answer questions about the management of SVB and its failure.

 As the CEO of SVB at the time of its collapse, your testimony on the bank’s corporate governance, risk management, rapid growth, and client industry and sector concentration, as well as the overwhelming proportion of uninsured depositors and the payment of bonuses in the hours leading up to the seizure of the bank by regulators, would address several important matters the Committee needs to understand.

Your testimony would provide substantial information relevant to SVB’s failure and could be provided without necessarily disclosing confidential supervisory information. You also do not need bank records and files to provide informative testimony on the topics outlined above. In short, as the former CEO of SVB, you must answer for the bank’s downfall.

As you are unable to attend next week’s hearing, we expect that you will make yourself available to appear before the Committee at a future date. My staff will be in touch with you or your representatives to make those arrangements.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

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