Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) handed out annual bonuses to its employees just hours before U.S. authorities shut down the institution, “bonuses” that some of the bank’s employees said were long overdue, Axios has revealed.

SVB employees told other American publications that the annual awards are traditionally presented on the second Friday of March, News.ro cites.

However, the amount of these “bonuses” – common in the banking system – is currently unknown.

However, an American recruiting site estimates the amount of bonuses given to SVB employees at $12,000, and the amount of bonuses awarded to SVB management at $140,000.

In 2018, SVB employees were among the highest-paid employees of publicly traded U.S. banks, with an average salary at the time of $250,683, according to Bloomberg.

Although it was foreseen long ago, the payment of these bonuses raises questions.

It happened on Friday morning, in the midst of a “banking brawl” – a moment when SVB clients in a panic tried to return the money they deposited in order not to lose everything.

However, in vain, SVB no longer had the necessary liquidity to face this wave of inquiries and was eventually closed.

Only American SVB employees collected the 2022 bonus on Friday.

International employees of the bank were supposed to collect this bonus later in March, but will not do so again.