20 March 2023 - 200 firms at risk from SVB fallout

The current turmoil in the banking sector brought about by the collapse of Silicon Valley bank in the U.S. could affect up to two hundred firms in the UK in the tech sector. Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt met with the Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, to both put in place measures to shore up the banking sector and provide any necessary assistance to any suitors who wish to buy the UK arm of the failed lender. HSBC remains the most likely buyer of the bank’s UK operations, although it is thought that both J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are also interested. A survey conducted over the weekend found that around 350 UK companies have accounts with the bank while, of those, 200 consider the bank their primary financial partner. This means that those firms will either struggle to gain access to their funds or will be unable to use working capital facilities. It is believed that two and a half billion pounds of capital is tied up in accounts of UK tech firms. Beyond Currency Market Commentary: Aims to provide deep insights into the political and economic events worldwide that can cause currencies to change and how this can affect your FX Exposure.