Silicon Valley Bank employees received bonuses hours before the takeover

Silicon Valley Bank Employees received their annual bonuses Friday, just hours before regulators seized the failing bank, according to people with knowledge of the payments.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based bank has historically paid employee awards on the second Friday in March, the people, who declined to be identified, said, speaking about the awards. The payments related to work done in 2022 and had been in process days before the bank collapsed, the sources said.

This year, Bonus Day coincidentally fell on the final day of SVB independence. The institution, which was caught up in a bank run sparked by panicked venture capitalists and start-up founders, was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) around midday on Friday.

On Friday, SVB boss Greg Becker addressed workers in a two-minute video in which he said he no longer makes decisions at the 40-year-old bank, according to People.

The amount of the payments could not be determined, but the SVB premiums could Area According to Glassdoor.com, from about $12,000 for employees to $140,000 for directors.

SVB was the highest paid listed bank in 2018, with employees on average $250,683 for this year according to Bloomberg.

After their seizure, the FDIC offered SVB employees 45 days of employment, the people said. The bank had 8,528 employees in December.

A spokesman for the FDIC declined to comment on the bonuses.