Fed staff should have known Silicon Valley Bank was vulnerable: report

An outside review of the Federal Reserve’s oversight of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in 2023 has found the Fed’s staff “knew, or should have known,” that the bank was vulnerable prior to the crisis, Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said Friday.

Bowman announced the results of the review, by the consulting firm Starling Advisory Group, in a speech in London Friday.

Silicon Valley Bank experienced a run in March 2023 after the bank announced it had sold securities at a $1.8 billion loss and needed to raise more capital. The bank’s large holdings of U.S. Treasuries had lost value after the Fed began raising interest rates.

The bank’s deposits were “94 percent uninsured and concentrated in venture capital–backed technology companies,” Bowman said the review found.

After the run, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Fed stepped in to close the bank and insure depositors.

The Fed’s top supervisory officer at the time, then-Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr, conducted a review of the episode in 2023. It found the Fed’s staff were overcautious in responding to the episode.

The new review goes farther in saying Fed supervisors knew, or should have know, about the risks in advance.

Barr stepped down from the supervisory position in February 2025 to allow President Donald Trump to select a new top regulator for the Fed. The president picked Bowman, who was confirmed by the Senate for that role.

The results of the new review are likely to prompt new questions about Barr’s role in the crisis, though Bowman’s remarks did not identify him by name.

A spokesperson for the Fed did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment on the new report.

Trump has accused the Fed’s board of being “hostile” to him. Some analysts believe the report would prompt an attempt by Trump to remove Barr from his governorship.