Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, stated on Saturday night that he would think about helping Israeli businesses impacted by the failure of the Silicon Valley Bank on Friday.
“I am closely following the American investment bank Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) demise, which has sparked a significant crisis in the high-tech sector. I’ve had conversations with influential high-tech individuals in Israel from Rome. I will discuss the severity of the issue with the finance and economy ministries and the governor of the Bank of Israel when I return to Israel, said Netanyahu.
On Thursday, the Israeli prime minister began a three-day official visit to Italy.
“If necessary, out of obligation to Israeli high-tech companies and people, we will take actions to help the Israeli businesses with their main operations in Israel to weather the cash-flow crisis that has been created for them,” he said.
The failure of SVB, which occurred as a result of a bank run, is the second-largest bank failure in American history, after only Washington Mutual’s demise during the 2008 global financial crisis. SVB was the sixteenth-largest bank in the nation.
According to last month’s financial statements, it had over $200 billion in assets at the end of the previous year and an estimated $150 billion in uninsured deposits.
The bank’s collapse, according to regulators, was caused by outflows of almost $40 billion that occurred quickly.
According to the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, all clients with insured deposits—accounts valued less than $250,000—would have complete access to their money by Monday morning.
The FDIC promised to return some funds to uninsured depositors with accounts worth more than $250,000 but did not say how much.
According to Bloomberg, 93 percent of SVB’s accounts lacked insurance.
Businesses that did business with SVB have warned that the bank’s failure could result in thousands of layoffs and prevent employees from getting their next salary.
Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister, announced that he was establishing a special committee to look into any potential repercussions for Israel from the crash.
Amid the world’s choppy economic waters, Smotrich stated on Saturday, “We committed to work for the Israeli economy so that it is an island of stability and assurance, and we will do so, with God’s help.
“The State of Israel supports the regional high-tech sector and will assist it in overcoming the crisis so that it can keep up its forward pace and success in development.”
Netanyahu emphasized that Israel’s economy, which he described as “strong and solid,” was not in danger due to the crash.
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