SVB Clients in Limbo After Seeking Refuge in Money-Market Funds

  • Clients who were unable to pull cash swept it into money funds
  • ‘People want an answer,’ says US Representative Zoe Lofgren

An SVB Financial Group chart displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 10.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

In the hours leading up to Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, a slew of startups tried to withdraw their cash. Those that couldn’t turned to a last-ditch option: parking it in third-party money-market funds offered through the lender.

Throughout the weekend, lobbyists and lawyers fielded frantic questions from venture capital firms as they awaited guidance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on the fate of the billions of dollars in those funds, according to people familiar with those conversations.