US regulators call in Blackrock to sell stricken Silicon Valley Bank and Signature portfolios
US regulator the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has called in investment giant BlackRock to sell the securities portfolios of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank after their collapse last month.
The face values of the two portfolios, which had been held in receivership by the regulator, are about $27bn and $87bn, the regulator said in a statement yesterday.
Reuters earlier reported that the FDIC retained advisers to sell the securities portfolios that the new owners of the two banks had rejected.
On Monday, the FDIC announced the marketing process for an about $600bn loan portfolio retained in receivership following the failure of Signature Bank.
The securities are primarily comprised of agency mortgage-backed securities, collateralized mortgage obligations and commercial mortgage-backed securities, the FDIC said on Wednesday.
The recent failure of Signature Bank and SVB triggered the biggest banking crisis since 2008 and stoked heavy volatility in the sector, worsening existing jitters of an imminent recession.
Reporting by City PM and Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat, Reuters