Bank Regulation: Preliminary Review of Agency Actions Related to March 2023 Bank Failures

Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed during March 10–12, 2023. At the time of closure, they were among the 30 largest U.S. banks. The failures raised questions about bank management, federal supervision, and the events leading to regulators’ decisions to use emergency authorities.

This report examines bank-specific factors that contributed to the failures, supervisory actions regulators took leading up to the failures, the basis for the systemic risk determinations Treasury made, and factors the Federal Reserve and Treasury considered to establish and provide credit protection for the Bank Term Funding Program and the use of the program to date.