During remarks on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) shredded Silicon Valley Bank, the Biden Administration, and the FDIC; “I’m appalled,” Kennedy said.
“If the management of Silicon Valley Bank had known the difference between a banking textbook and an L.L. Bean catalog, Silicon Valley Bank would have never bought securities that are so sensitive to interest rates without hedging that risk. Honestly, it’s banking 101,” Kennedy began, kicking off an epic rant.
From Fox News:
The senator said all that was needed was an effort by the bank to hedge the growing risk it faced from owning securities that were sensitive to rising interest rates, and it could have avoided the sudden need to sell these securities that tumbled as interest rates soared higher over the last year.
“I’m appalled the bankers at Silicon Valley Bank didn’t do it. I mean, it was bone-deep, down to the marrow stupid,” he said.
Having failed that step, SVB was then poorly served by federal regulators, Kennedy said. He said SVB was under heavy regulation – despite arguments from Democrats that a 2018 change to the law let SVB escape regulations.
“Where were the regulators?” Kennedy asked. “You couldn’t have found them with a search party.”
Kennedy also said a third problem was that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. failed to make any effort to find a buyer for the bank.
“There were buyers,” Kennedy said. “But the problem was that the people at the FDIC do not like bank mergers.”
“If we had done any one of those three things… this mess could have been avoided,” he said.
Watch the clip above. More over at Fox News:
Sen. Kennedy says SVB bailout could have been avoided: ‘Bone deep, down-to-the-marrow stupid’ https://t.co/7jRQ05ng5k
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) March 15, 2023
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