Biden says “banking system is safe” after Silicon Valley Bank collapse

President Biden said Monday that “Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe, your deposits are safe” following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

The big picture: Biden vowed to do “whatever it takes” to avoid additional bank runs. The collapse of the SVB was the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.

• Biden added that he will ask Congress and regulators to tighten rules on banks to “make it less likely that these kinds of bank failures will happen again.”
• He also promised a “full accounting” of how the collapse happened and said the management of banks taken over by the FDIC will be fired.

Biden also reassured Americans that “no losses will be borne by the taxpayers.” The money will instead come from the fees banks pay to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Biden said.

• The FDIC insurance fund, funded by a levy on bank deposits, stands at about $125 billion, notes Axios’ Felix Salmon.

Situation: Federal banking regulators on Sunday took aggressive new measures to prevent depositors at Silicon Valley Bank from losing money — and to prevent its demise from unleashing a nationwide run on the banking system, Axios’ Neil Irwin and Courtenay Brown report.

• New York-based Signature Bank was shut down by regulators on Sunday. US regulators said in a joint statement that it was part of a move to contain the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank’s bankruptcy.