This week, the go-to bank for US tech startups came rapidly unglued（fail suddenly or completely迅速瓦解）,?leaving its high-powered customers?（高級客戶）and investors in limbo.（in a?situation?where you do not?know?what will?happen?or when something will?happen）

美國科技初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的首選銀行迅速瓦解，使其高級客戶和投資者陷入困境。

Silicon Valley Bank, facing a sudden bank run?(銀行擠兌：a?period?when many?people?take?their?money?out of a?bank?because they are?afraid?the?bank?will?lose?it or go out of?business)and capital crisis（資本危機(jī)）,?collapsed Friday morning?and was taken over?（接管）by federal regulators（聯(lián)邦監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)）.

It was the largest failure of a US bank since Washington Mutual （華盛頓互惠銀行）in 2008.

Here’s what we know about the bank’s downfall（崩潰：?sudden?destruction?of a?person,?organization, or?government?and?their?loss?of?power,?money, or?health）, and what might come next.

What is SVB?

Founded in 1983, SVB specialized in（專注于） banking for tech startups. It provided financing for?（提供融資支持）almost half of US venture-backed（風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資支持） technology and health care companies.（醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)公司）

While relatively unknown（相對不知名） outside of Silicon Valley, SVB was among the top 20 American commercial banks, with $209 billion in total assets?（總資產(chǎn)）at the end of last year, according to the FDIC.（Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation美國聯(lián)邦存款保險(xiǎn)公司，是一個在大蕭條時(shí)期由美國聯(lián)邦政府創(chuàng)辦、為商業(yè)銀行儲蓄客戶提供存款保險(xiǎn)的公司。目前為每一銀行每一存款人普通賬戶最高保險(xiǎn)額一般為25萬美元）

Why did it fail?

In short（簡而言之）, SVB encountered a classic run on the bank（遭遇銀行擠兌）

The longer version is a bit more complicated.

Several forces collided to（相互碰撞） take down the banker（導(dǎo)致銀行崩潰）.

First, there was the Federal Reserve（美聯(lián)儲，履行美國的中央銀行的職責(zé)）, which began raising interest rates a year ago to tame inflation（抑制通貨膨脹）.?

通貨膨脹是指貨幣供給大于貨幣實(shí)際需求，貨幣的購買力下降，從而使得一段時(shí)間內(nèi)物價(jià)持續(xù)、普遍地上漲，加息會使人們的儲蓄意愿增強(qiáng)，市場上資金減少，就會減輕通貨膨脹

The Fed moved aggressively, and higher borrowing costs （高借款成本）sapped（使衰竭） the momentum of tech stocks that had benefited SVB.

加息一般是雙向加息，存款利率提高的同時(shí)，借款利率會上升，高借款成本影響了科技股的勢頭

Higher interest rates also eroded（侵蝕） the value of long-term bonds（侵蝕長期債券的價(jià)值） that SVB and other banks gobbled up（狼吞虎咽，大量購買） during the era of ultra-low, near-zero interest rates. （近0利率時(shí)期）SVB’s $21 billion bond portfolio was?yielding（產(chǎn)生收益，eg：high-rate deposit accounts yield good returens）?an average of 1.79%?— the current 10-year Treasury yield is about 3.9%.

債券交易價(jià)格會受到供需關(guān)系的影響，加息導(dǎo)致對債券的需求減少，價(jià)格下跌，債券的到期價(jià)格是固定的（票面價(jià)格和票面利率固定），購買的成本減少，會導(dǎo)致到期收益率提高。

At the same time, venture capital（風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資） began drying up（枯竭）, forcing startups to draw down funds held by SVB（提取由SVB持有的資金）. So the bank was sitting on a mountain of unrealized losses in bonds（未到期的債券損失） just as（正當(dāng)...的時(shí)候） the pace of customer withdrawals was escalating.（取款速度加快）

風(fēng)險(xiǎn)投資枯竭→迫使初創(chuàng)公司開始取款→SVB賬上現(xiàn)金不夠→開始虧損出售債券→發(fā)行股票融資失敗→投資者大量拋售股票，單日暴跌60%

The panic takes root…（恐慌蔓延）

On Wednesday, SVB announced it had sold a bunch of securities（一堆證券） at a loss, and that it would also sell $2.25 billion in new shares（新股） to shore up its balance?sheet. （支撐資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表）That triggered a panic among key venture capital firms, who?reportedly advised companies?to withdraw their money from the bank.

The bank’s stock began plummeting?（暴跌）Thursday morning and by the afternoon it was dragging other bank shares down with it as investors began to fear a repeat of the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

By Friday morning, trading in SVB shares was halted（暫停） and it had abandoned efforts to quickly raise capital or find a buyer.?（放棄快速籌集資本或?qū)ふ屹I家的努力）California regulators intervened, shutting the bank down and placing it in receivership（破產(chǎn)管理接管） under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Contagion（蔓延） fears subside（消退）

Despite initial panic on Wall Street, analysts said SVB’s collapse is unlikely to set off（觸發(fā)） the kind of domino effect?（多米諾效應(yīng)）that gripped the banking industry（席卷金融業(yè)） during the financial crisis.

“The system is as well-capitalized and liquid（資本充足&流動性好） as it has ever been,” Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi said. “The banks that are now in trouble are much too small to be a meaningful threat to the broader system.”

No later than Monday morning, all insured depositors（受保護(hù)存款人） will have full access to their insured deposits, according to the FDIC. It will pay uninsured depositors an “advance dividend（預(yù)付股息） within the next week.”

What’s next?

So, while a broader contagion is unlikely, smaller banks that are disproportionately?（不成比例地）tied to cash-strapped industries（現(xiàn)金緊缺行業(yè)） like tech and crypto may be in for（免不了遭受） a rough ride(艱難時(shí)刻), according to Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.

“Everyone on Wall Street knew that the Fed’s rate-hiking campaign would eventually break something, and right now that is taking down small banks,” Moya said on Friday.

The FDIC typically sells a failed bank’s assets to other banks, using the proceeds（收益） to repay depositors whose funds weren’t insured.

A buyer could still emerge for SVB, though it’s far from guaranteed.

原文地址：https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/11/business/svb-bank-collapse-explainer-timeline/index.html