First Citizens and Valley National Reportedly Competing for SVB Assets

Two regional banks are reportedly competing to purchase failed lender Silicon Valley Bank.

First Citizens BancShares and Valley National Bancorp have filed bids with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Bloomberg News reported Saturday (March 25), citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Sources said the FDIC — which took control of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) earlier this month — is expected to choose a new owner as soon as this weekend. PYMNTS has contacted both banks for comment but has not yet received a reply.

This news follows recent reports that Pennsylvania-based Customers Bancorp was seeking potential co-investors for a bid to purchase SVB, which collapsed following a run on deposits in one of the biggest bank failures in U.S. history.

The FDIC has been working to sell SVB, announced last week it had seen “substantial interest” in the bank and extended a deadline for bidders until the end of the week.

“There has been substantial interest from multiple parties, and the FDIC and the bidders need more time to explore all options in order to maximize value and achieve an optimal outcome,” the FDIC said at the time.

Last week, the FDIC sold another failed bank, Signature Bank, to Flagstar Bank, a subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp.

As PYMNTS noted soon after the announcement, the deal was a setback for the cryptocurrency industry that Signature Bank had once courted, as Flagstar’s bid did not include roughly $4 billion of deposits tied to the failed institution’s digital banking operations.

“The FDIC will provide these deposits directly to customers whose accounts are associated with the digital banking business,” the FDIC said.

The closing of both Silvergate Bank, which voluntarily liquidated, and Signature Bank, which failed, has made it increasingly hard for crypto services and investors to transfer traditional currencies by cutting off two crucial banking on-ramps for the digital asset industry.

“Signature’s Signet platform, which was invaluable to the crypto industry for years — allowing 24/7 real-time payments outside of traditional banking hours — remains under FDIC receivership and subject to later arrangement,” PYMNTS wrote. “It is unclear what plans exist for the platform to come back online as an ongoing service.”