HSBC plans to inject £2 billion of liquidity into UK unit of SVB

HSBC Holdings, the new owner of Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) UK unit, is planning to inject £2 billion (S$3.3 billion) of liquidity into the division.

Chief executive officer Noel Quinn and Ian Stuart, the head of HSBC UK, told London tech investors on a call on Monday (Mar 13) that the bank would commit billions of pounds to ensure that business as usual continued at SVB UK.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the amount.

HSBC’s UK-based ring-fenced subsidiary bought the unit for £1 on Monday, according to a statement. It said the deal will be funded from existing resources.

Quinn described the acquisition as making “strategic sense” and would improve the bank’s standing in the technology and life-sciences sectors.

SBV was a critical lender and service provider to a range of tech companies in both the US and UK.

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Quinn and Stuart indicated on the call that there wouldn’t be major changes to how SVB UK is run, according to Suzanne Ashman, general partner at LocalGlobe, a London-based venture investment firm. “We were hugely reassured,” she said. “They don’t want to lose the DNA of what they bought.”

The bank didn’t clarify whether it would run its new acquisition as a standalone division or keep the SVB brand. The unit had loans of around £5.5 billion and deposits of around £6.7 billion as of Mar 10, according to HSBC’s statement. BLOOMBERG