US senators slam regulators for SVB oversight failures

WASHINGTON: US lawmakers accused regulators Tuesday of failing to do enough to prevent the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month, despite knowing it was over-exposed to the risk of rising interest rates.

The Senate Banking Committee grilled senior Federal Reserve, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) officials about their inability to prevent the collapse of the Californian lender on March 10.

Fed vice chair for supervision Michael Barr said SVB failed "because the bank's management did not effectively manage its interest rate and liquidity risk," calling the collapse a "textbook case of mismanagement."