Tim Mayopoulos, the newly appointed CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), attended the Bilt Rewards Launch Party at Equinox Hotel New York at Hudson Yards on June 22, 2021 in New York City. Three days into his tenure at SVB, Mayopoulos is urging clients to return their funds to the bank. On a Zoom call attended by CNBC, Mayopoulos discussed the future of the bank, which is currently controlled by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The three possible outcomes he listed were recapitalization, sale, or liquidation.
Mayopoulos is looking to rebuild trust with the venture capital and startup clients of SVB. He said on the call that there is no safer place in the U.S. banking system to put deposits, and that SVB’s “exact end state” will depend on customer feedback. He encouraged clients to vote by sending clear signals about what they want the outcome of this process to be, and urged them to give SVB a chance to win back their trust and confidence.
SVB has had a long-standing relationship with Silicon Valley’s most elite venture firms and has focused on providing financing and banking services at every stage of growth. Kassar, CEO of Multifunding, said “there are other places that do venture debt, but Silicon Valley Bank was the 1,000-pound gorilla in the room.”
When asked about potential exclusivity violations, Mayopoulos indicated that he understood emergency actions taken by startups, and said he’d like to work with their clients to have deposits come back to SVB. He did not say what would happen to ex-customers who did the same.
Although the future of SVB remains uncertain, Mayopoulos is taking the necessary steps to rebuild trust with clients and get the bank back on track.