Silicon Valley Bank workers reportedly received their annual bonuses just hours before the financial institution collapsed — and ahead of an expected Monday morning run by customers desperate for their cash.
Employees who agree to stay on with the failed bank also will receive 1.5 times their normal pay for the next 45 days, with hourly workers getting double their normal rate, Axios reported Saturday.
The bonuses — for work performed during 2022 — were doled out Friday to workers in the US, the outlet said.
Bonuses for employees in other countries were scheduled for later this month and haven’t been paid, Axios said.
The bank traditionally awards bonuses on the second Friday in March, and the payments had been in the works for days, CNBC said.
A Brinks armored truck is parked outside Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday.AP
Greg Becker was the president and CEO of Silicon Valley Bank.AFP via Getty Images
It’s unclear how much cash was distributed, but NBC said the bonuses likely ranged from $14,000 each for associates to $140,000 apiece for managing directors, based on figures posted on the Glassdoor website.
Meanwhile, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation reportedly emailed an unknown number of workers at the nation’s 16th-largest bank on Friday evening and offered them temporary jobs.
A worker (center) tells people Friday that Silicon Valley Bank headquarters is closed.Getty Images
“Without commenting on salaries, it’s our standard practice to ask retain [sic] bank employees to assist with an orderly transition as part of our resolution process,” an FDIC rep told Axios.
In 2019, Bloomberg reported that Silicon Valley Bank workers were the highest-paid among all US public banks, raking in an average of $250,683 each in 2018.
Reports on Saturday also said Silicon Valley Bank execs, including president and CEO Greg Becker, recently sold millions of dollars worth of stock in parent company SVB Financial Group.
People read notices on the doors at Silicon Valley Bank headquarters Friday.AP
Becker dumped nearly 12,500 shares for more than $3.5 million on Feb. 27, the same day that Chief Financial Officer Daniel Beck unloaded $575,180 worth of company stock.
The share price dropped more than 60% on Thursday, one day after SVB sold a $21 billion bond portfolio that was yielding just 1.79%, far below the current 10-year Treasury yield of about 3.9%.
Santa Clara cops leave Silicon Valley Bank headquarters Friday.AP
The resulting, $1.8 billion loss led SVB to announce the sale of $2.25 billion in common equity and preferred convertible stock Thursday, but investors got spooked after clients began pulling their money from the bank.
On Friday, SVB tried and failed to find alternative funding — including by selling the company — leading the FDIC announce the bank had been shut down and placed in receivership.
With Post wires
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