For its entire 15-year life as a regional bank until its collapse in 2023, Silicon Valley Bank held the same risky bet. This column argues that the risks were visible the whole time. The bank experienced rapid asset and stock price growth and maintained a high-risk profile with long-term securities funded by largely uninsured demand deposits. However, supervisors reacted only once unrecognised held-to-maturity losses materialised following the 2022-2023 interest rate increases. Thus, Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is less a story of hidden danger than of a supervisory system that polices process rather than risk.



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