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First Citizens Sues HSBC for Stealing SVB Staff, Secrets

  • Ex-SVB banker tagged as ‘chief architect’ of ‘Project Colony’
  • Complaint says HSBC targeted key healthcare group executives
A First Citizens Bank branch in Alpharetta, Georgia.

A First Citizens Bank branch in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg
Updated on

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. sued HSBC Holdings Plc for allegedly raiding dozens of employees from Silicon Valley Bank in a scheme dubbed “Project Colony” as First Citizens was taking over the failed California lender. 

Two weeks after First Citizens acquired SVB on March 27, HSBC poached 42 bankers on Easter Sunday and brazenly took and misused SVB’s confidential, proprietary and trade secret information, according to a complaint filed Monday in federal court in northern California.