OAN Deven Berryhill
UPDATED 12:45 PM PT – Monday, March 13, 2023
The FDIC shut down Signature Bank on Sunday in efforts to prevent a growing banking crisis.
Federal regulators shut down the New York-based Signature Bank to protect “taxpayers” and the overall financial system. These decisions come following the collapse of California’s Silicon Valley Bank on Friday.
“We are also announcing a similar systemic risk exception for Signature Bank, New York, New York, which was closed today by its state chartering authority,” said in a joint statement by the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. “All depositors of this institution will be made whole. As with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank, no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.”
Signature was the largest bank known to have lent to crypto based accounts. The bank had offices in California, Nevada, North Carolina, New York, and Connecticut with nine national business lines including commercial real estate and digital asset banking.
President Donald Trump was known to have had several business and checking accounts with Signature. After the January 6th Capitol protests, the bank cut ties with Trump and urged him to resign. Many Republican politicians, including David Shafer, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, blamed the banks recent collapse on President Joe Biden’s “Go Woke, Go Broke” policies.
“Signature Bank famously closed President Trump’s bank accounts to signal its virtue,” said in a tweet by Shafer. “It is about the regulation of small and medium sized banks. Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th largest bank in the country.”
Some in the banking industry have accused Signature and SVB banks for focusing too much on woke policies and not enough on its investments.
“SVB’s Sustainable Finance Commitment aims to support companies that are working to decarbonize the energy and infrastructure industries and hasten the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon, net zero emissions economy,” SVB’s 2022 ESG report stated. “It also notes that the bank implemented ‘a diverse candidate slate for US leadership roles’ and introduced its first six Employee Resource Groups for Asian, Black, Hispanic, LGBTQ, veteran, military and female employees.”
According to sources, former Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass) served on the board of directors of Signature Bank since 2015. Frank co-sponsored the Dodd-Frank bill that was intended to bring reform to Wall Street.
Federal regulators have called the closure of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday the largest U.S. banking failure since the 2008 financial crisis — and the second-largest ever.
Author and economist Carol Roth told Glenn Beck on Monday that the “average person” should protect themselves by putting 5% to 10% of your investments in “alternative, hard assets like gold or precious metals.”