SVB CEO, CFO resign, company appoints turnaround expert as interim finance head

SVB Financial Group’s chief executive and chief financial officer resigned this week while the collapsed lender’s restructuring committee appointed a turnaround expert as interim CFO, according to a regulatory filing on Friday (Apr 22).

CEO Gregory Becker resigned on April 19, while finance chief Daniel Beck left the company on April 18, SVB said. The two top executives were sued in March by shareholders who accused them of concealing how rising interest rates would leave its Silicon Valley Bank unit “particularly susceptible” to a bank run.

The beleaguered company hired Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) as a restructuring advisor. The restructuring committee appointed Nicholas Grossi of A&M as the company’s interim chief financial officer on April 20, according to the filing.

Grossi, 44, is a managing director with A&M’s North American commercial restructuring practice in Chicago. He has turned around companies in a wide variety of industries, including financial services, automotive, recycling, oil and gas, manufacturing, transportation and healthcare.

SVB is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings after California’s regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank in early March and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver, making it the largest collapse since Washington Mutual went bust during the financial crisis of 2008.

The regulators then agreed to backstop a deal for regional lender First Citizens BancShares to acquire Silicon Valley Bank. REUTERS