Fed, California agency issue enforcement against Silvergate, will monitor wind-down

Silvergate Bank
The Federal Reserve and California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued a joint enforcement action against Silvergate Bank prohibiting unauthorized executive compensation payouts and requiring the bank to preserve all documentation of its relationship with failed crypto exchange FTX.
Bloomberg News

The Federal Reserve Board and California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation are keeping close tabs on Silvergate Bank as it unwinds its business operations.

In a joint enforcement action, the Fed and DFPI issued a consent order last week requiring the La Jolla, Calif.-based bank to share a self-liquidation plan with both state and federal regulators within 10 days. It also forbade the bank from destroying records and noted that bank officials must cooperate fully with an ongoing investigation into Silvergate's relationship with the failed crypto exchange FTX.

Consent orders from the Fed function like legal settlements. Institutions agree to a set of conditions and waive their right to challenge them. The document was made public Thursday morning.

As part of the order, Silvergate agreed to make good on its promise to ensure all of its depositors are made whole. It also agreed not to expand its business activities during its wind-down, pay dividends, repurchase stock or make payments on subordinated debt without written approval from its supervisors.

Silvergate is also barred from using cash assets to make any unplanned executive compensation payments or severance payouts without regulators' approval. Similarly, any employee promotion during the wind-down period will need to be approved by supervisors as well. Limits will also be placed on "golden parachute" payments.

The bank is also prohibited from taking on brokered deposits to fund its operations. 

As part of the agreement, Silvergate will provide quarterly written progress reports to supervisors on the execution of its liquidation plan, including its monetization of loans and securities and its recovery of other assets.

The order also requires Silvergate to provide "substantial assistance" to the Fed and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation in their ongoing investigation into the bank's dealings with FTX. This includes making "present or former officers, directors, employees, agents, and consultants" available for interviews or testimony. The bank must also identify witnesses with "material information" about the matters under investigation.

The order does not disclose the scope of the investigation, but the FTX organization and its leaders face a battery of charges including fraud, conspiracy and bribery. Before its collapse, FTX was the second-largest crypto exchange in the world.

Prior to its voluntary liquidation in March, Silvergate's business model centered on providing banking services to crypto currency firms. Its Silvergate Exchange Network served as a near-real-time payment network for corporate customers to trade digital assets and convert holdings into U.S. dollars. 

Late last year, Silvergate experienced a $8.1 billion run on deposits following the collapse of FTX. The bank stayed afloat by accessing emerging funding through the Federal Home Loan Bank system, but ultimately chose to shut down on March 8. At the time it said it would be able to self-liquidate and return all deposits without dipping into the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund.

Silvergate's decision to shut down coincided with — and ultimately upended — an attempted capital raise by Santa Clara-based Silicon Valley Bank, which was dealing with liquidity issues stemming from unhedged interest rate risk exposures and a persistent outflow of deposits. Silicon Valley Bank experienced a run of its own and failed two days later. The episode set off a crisis in the banking sector that included the failures of two more large regional banks.

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