, Columnist
Financial Crises Are a Feature, Not a Bug, of the US System
The Silicon Valley Bank autopsies are over, but the problems still remain.
The answer’s not up there.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images North AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
It’s a year since the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank – and the renewed cries of “never again.” Almost instantly began inquiries to work out who to blame, as well as hurried efforts to tighten banking rules, raise capital demands and enact laws to make executives pay.
Within months, the Federal Reserve issued a highly technical proposal for rule changes that runs to nearly 1,100 pages. Some updates were due but SVB’s collapse inspired a much heavier rewrite. The Senate Banking Committee has come up with the Recoup Act, to make executives accountable for bank failures and to pay back more of their rewards.