Decisive action on banks in Washington

WHETHER or not he decides to run for a second term of office, US President Joe Biden’s decision to form an international alliance in support of Ukraine after the Russian invasion will probably be recalled as his top policy accomplishment.

And now it seems that the Biden administration’s efforts to shore up the financial system, following the collapse of two US banks – Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) worth around US$200 billion, and Signature Bank – will probably count as another major achievement of the 49th American president.

Indeed, all considered, as they faced in recent weeks what was seen as the most serious threat to the US banking system since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, Biden and the nation’s top economic officials – including Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chair Martin Gruenberg, and White House National Economic Council director Lael Brainard – passed the test of economic leadership with flying colours.