The fall of the American bank Silicon Valley Bank caused a strong shock in the stock markets of the United States and Europe, becoming a headline in the entire European press. The Bundesbank has announced a crisis meeting to analyze the impact, while the European Central Bank has not taken such a decision. HotNews talked to representatives of BNR and UniCredit, our correspondent bank SVB.

The rate of death of the SVB was enormous. SVB CEO Greg Becker was on a conference call with investors last Tuesday, answering questions about how he spends his free time. A few days later, the bank he managed collapsed.

Will there be an impact on Romania? Can the 2008 scenario repeat itself?

It is very unlikely, say representatives of the BNR. First, the size of SVB cannot be compared to the size of Lehman Brothers. Second, SVB was a startup financing bank, but not a major investment bank. Third, the NBR’s oversight model allows for a first response to occur even before such a bankruptcy occurs. Romanian banks are well capitalized and SVB has almost no operations in Romania.

UniCredit representatives, unfortunately, did not want to comment on the topic of SVB’s bankruptcy.

What is happening in our financial markets now?

Fortunately, there was no panic in our financial markets. The investment professionals I spoke with believe it is a regional bank. It is clear that startups have suffered, but there is “enough money in the market to find funding”.

There is a small impact on banks in Europe, but there are no signs of panic at the moment. It also shows us that the Fed’s monetary policy has been too restrictive in recent times and cracks are beginning to appear, experts contacted by HotNews said.

How did other states react?

In Germany, the local branch of the SVB bank was closed, and in Great Britain HSBC acquired a subsidiary of the American bank.

The German air taxi developer Lilium Air Mobility and client of Silicon Valley Bank does not expect any consequences during the bankruptcy of SVB, writes the German press. “Lilium does not expect any material impact on operations or liquidity,” the spokeswoman said.

The federal government does not want to compare SVB’s situation with the situation after the collapse of Lehman. “I don’t think we are in a situation similar to what we had then,” government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in Berlin on Monday. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was informed of the situation.

“We are closely monitoring the current situation together with BaFin (the financial supervisory authority) and the Bundesbank,” a finance ministry spokesman said.

The Bundesbank has a special crisis team that has been put on alert and will meet on Monday afternoon for a deeper analysis.

France’s economy minister expressed confidence in the reliability of French banks, a topic for discussion during a meeting of European finance ministers on Monday.

Asked by France Info on Monday morning about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Bruno Le Maire said there had been no “specific warning” about the French banking sector. “French banks are reliable and not influenced by SVB,” representatives of the Banque de France also confirmed.

“At this stage, we are not aware of any direct impact of the French banks on the failed bank,” Public Finance Minister Gabriel Attal told France Inter, also adding that “we have solid banks that have significant liquidity, but then we carefully monitor the situation.”

What was the reaction of the president of the Eurogroup – the body that unites the finance ministers of the euro zone?

“The eurozone’s vulnerability to the fallout from a Silicon Valley bank collapse is very limited,” Eurogroup President Paschal Donohoe told Bloomberg on Monday. We have a very strong regulatory framework and regulatory system in Europe… But of course any banking development like this raises questions and of course we will discuss that today in the Eurogroup.”

The eurozone’s vulnerability to the fallout from a Silicon Valley Bank collapse is very limited, Paschal Donohoe, president of the Eurogroup (the eurozone’s finance ministers), said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday.

“In Europe we have an extremely strong legislative framework for banking regulation and settlement. But any developments in the banking sector like these raise questions and of course we will discuss them today at the Eurogroup meeting,” Donohoe said.

He added that the European Commission and the European Central Bank are monitoring developments and will discuss the issue with euro zone finance ministers on Monday.

This situation is a warning that risk and moments of change can happen unexpectedly, Donohoe said.

He added: “From a European point of view we are in a very good position, over the last decade we have made changes to the legal framework for regulation. We can monitor and respond quickly to developments if necessary.”