SVB said it has enlisted Goldman in connection with the planned capital raising.
New York:
US authorities are investigating Goldman Sachs’ work for a Silicon Valley bank in connection with the events surrounding the California bank’s collapse, Goldman disclosed in a securities filing on Thursday.
Goldman has been “cooperating with and providing information to various government bodies” on its activities for SVB in March just before the tech-oriented bank took over, according to the filing.
Goldman has been criticized for several of its roles with SVB, including advising California Bank and buying distressed loans in a deal that ultimately played a central role in SVB’s collapse.
SVB was seized by federal banking regulators on March 10 following a run on deposits, reported two days earlier that had lost $1.8 billion from the sale of $21 billion in securities.
In the same March 8 press release, SVB said it had enlisted Goldman in connection with the planned capital raising.
The market saw the disclosure of trading losses as a sign of SVB’s desperation to raise cash to meet its liquidity needs as it suffered from deposit flight, eventually leading to the bank’s demise.
Goldman said in Thursday’s filing that the government investigation “found when SVB enlisted the firm to assist in the proposed capital raising and SVB sold a portfolio of securities to the firm,” Goldman said.
The government probe follows a request by 20 House Democrats to US regulators, urging the investigation into Goldman “conducted at ‘arm’s length’ in his role as advisor to SVB.”
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