The new CEO of Silicon Valley Bank held an all-hands meeting on Wednesday and sought to reassure employees that the bank was not planning on closing its doors, according to two people who listened in on the call.
Tim Mayopoulous, who the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation appointed as chief executive after it took control of the bank on Friday, told employees that the bank had resumed many of its usual business activities.
“We are open for business, making new loans, processing payments and offering all the solutions we’ve been known for,” Mayopoulus said, according to one person who was on the call.
The people who spoke with NBC News requested anonymity, citing a lack of clearance to speak publicly and concerns about professional repercussions.
The future of Silicon Valley Bank has remained in doubt since the FDIC shut it down on Friday. The bank reopened Monday, though it could still be acquired.
Federal regulators said Sunday that it would guarantee all deposits at the bank, allaying fears from customers that billions of dollars would never be recovered.
Mayopoulos, who was general counsel for Bank of America during the 2008 financial crisis and was CEO of the mortgage insurance company Fannie Mae, said that the bank could still be acquired but that he saw value in it continuing on its own.
He also told employees that venture capitalists, who make up a significant part of the company's business, had expressed support for the bank in meetings.
Venture capitalists, investors who put money into startups and burgeoning industries, made up a large part of Silicon Valley Bank's client base and overall business. Many venture capital firms have expressed continued support for the bank and said they would continue to work with it in the future.
