Get the Facts: Who’s to blame for Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank failures?
Industry experts say there were several factors that led to the collapse of the two mid-size banks.
Industry experts say there were several factors that led to the collapse of the two mid-size banks.
Industry experts say there were several factors that led to the collapse of the two mid-size banks.
When the financial industry got wind of regulators taking over and shutting down Silicon Valley Bank in California and Signature Bank in New York, some Republicans and Democrats hurried to find out who was to blame.
Some politicians from both sides of the fence blamed President Donald Trump, who reversed some of the regulations of the Dodd-Frank Act. The bill was put into place to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis of 2008.
In 2018, Trump rolled back regulations for small and midsize banks. Today, critics say easing those policies caused or contributed to the downfall of SVB and Signature Bank.
"There seem to be many different causes that were involved here," Eugene Kiely explained in a follow-up interview with Hearst Television’s Chief National Investigative Correspondent, Mark Albert. Kiely, who is the director of the nonprofit fact-checking website FactCheck.org, spoke with several banking experts who were split on pointing to one solid reason why the regional banks failed.
Hearst Television National Investigative Unit and FactCheck.org peeled back the layers to explain why narrowing in on who or what’s to blame for the bank catastrophe isn’t so cut and dry.
Watch our "Get the Facts" installment above for more.
Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. Tamika Cody and Wendy Wilk contributed to this report.
If you know of concerns in the banking sector you want us to investigate, please send confidential information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com.