The UK government and the Bank of England stepped in to secure the UK operations of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) through a sale to HSBC for a nominal £1, marking a strategic move to stabilize the economy and safeguard the technology sector. SVB UK, though modest in size with just over 3,000 business customers, focuses on startups and hosts many deposits from tech firms described by the finance minister as fragile.
Minister Jeremy Hunt highlighted the urgency, noting that some of the country’s most important and strategic companies could have vanished without action, creating serious risks to the broader economy. Yet he stressed that there has never been a systemic threat to UK financial stability.
SVB, the American commercial bank, had announced a capital raise amid financial stress last week, which intensified fears of a broader liquidity crisis. Customer withdrawals accelerated, the lender faced a liquidity crunch, and its stock market listings tumbled, sending shockwaves through global banking markets.
In the United States, the SVB situation posed a potential risk to thousands of UK tech firms and investors who rely on the British subsidiary for deposits. If the entity had failed, deposits could have been frozen, jeopardizing payroll, supplier payments, and ongoing operations.
Over the weekend, Hunt and Treasury officials conducted talks with industry leaders and pressed ahead with an accelerated search for a buyer. HSBC, alongside other candidates such as Barclays, Bank of London, and Oak North, was identified as the most stable option. The government stated that the acquisition would protect deposits and allow normal banking activity to resume, reducing disruption to customers and the broader market.
HSBC described the deal as adding £1.4 billion in tangible capital to the SVB UK subsidiary. The bank’s leadership, including Chief Executive Officer Noel Quinn, said the purchase strengthened HSBC’s commercial banking footprint in Britain and heightened its capacity to support fast‑growing, innovative firms across technology and life sciences sectors, both domestically and internationally.
For Universal Quantum, a 40‑employee technology company that relied entirely on SVB for funding, the news brought relief after several volatile days. Its CEO, Sebastian Weidt, told the BBC that the acquisition alleviated intense pressure and a failure would have harmed the wider sector. The deal’s completion helped preserve confidence across investors and clients, ensuring continuity for ongoing research and development efforts.