On Friday, Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Baker sent a two-minute video to bank employees, explaining that he is no longer the bank’s decision-maker, CNBC wrote.
The bank was placed under administration by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on Friday afternoon.
1.5 million as a bonus
But a few hours before the authorities took control of the company, the California-based bank paid bonuses to its employees. The second Friday in March was historically the day SVB paid bonuses to its employees, payments for work done in 2022 and supposedly had been pending in the days before the bank collapse emerged.
Bonuses range from $12,000, roughly 130,000 kroner, to $140,000 for management, according to CNBC.
According to Bloomberg, in 2018, SVB was the listed bank in the US that paid its employees the best, with an average salary of $250,683 that year.
SVB had 8,528 employees in December, but when the FDIC took control of the company, authorities gave the employees a 45-day notice of termination.
Employers sold away
It’s not just the bonuses that come at inopportune times for Silicon Valley’s bank. At the end of the week, it also became known that CEO Greg Baker had sold shares for $3.6 million shortly before the bank crashed on the stock exchange.
The shares were sold on February 27, while the fund bought $1.3 million worth of options at the same time. According to the Wall Street Journal, plans to sell the shares on Jan. 26 were triggered by an SEC rule that allows insiders to plan sales in advance to quell suspicions of insider trading.
In addition to Becker, the CFO of SVB sold shares in the bank shortly before the crash. Daniel Beck sold a total of 2,000 shares at an average price of $287.59 per share. Participation on the same day as the CEO. Which gave him $575,000, just over NOK 6.1 million, according to the Daily Mail.
Just as with Becker, the sales were arranged at the end of January, and there is no indication that Becker or Becker had done anything illegal.
SVD branches will reopen Monday morning, under the supervision of authorities, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
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