FDIC holds auction for SVB amid growing uncertainty

The FDIC is collecting bids on the assets of Silicon Valley Bank in a race to offer a path forward for businesses whose funds are stuck at the failed lender, according to three industry sources familiar with the matter.

The auction is being held this afternoon, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss an issue involving the regulator. It could provide a mechanism for thousands of venture-backed startups and health care businesses, which had been customers of the defunct Northern California bank, to recover their money.

A bank run sparked by uncertainty over SVB’s finances wiped out more than $42 billion of deposits from its balance sheet last week, prompting California regulators and the FDIC to intervene.

The collapse of the bank, which was seized by FDIC last week, has heightened fears of instability at small and mid-sized financial institutions.

Lawmakers and industry groups have been pressing the FDIC — as well as Treasury, the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — to produce a plan as soon as possible that might offer guidance to depositors on how to proceed.

In an appearance on CBS’s "Face The Nation" on Sunday morning, Rep. Ro Khanna(D-Calif.) — whose district is home to the bank's headquarters — said the FDIC told lawmakers that it was "working on" finding a buyer for SVB.

Prominent venture capitalists and startup executives have warned that they’ll be unable to make payroll if the federal government doesn’t offer a dividend to the bank’s uninsured depositors — whose accounts total more than $150 billion. FDIC insurance only backstops individual deposits up to $250,000.

The FDIC declined comment.

Zach Warmbrodt contributed to this report.