The nation’s top financial regulator put the blame for the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in the lap of the bank’s managers during a Senate hearing Tuesday aimed at understanding what happened.
But both Democrats and Republicans also said federal regulators didn’t do their job.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said regulators knew there was a problem but “nobody dropped the hammer.”
“What were the supervisors thinking?” asked South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the panel’s top Republican. “By all accounts, our regulators appear to have been asleep at the wheel.”
Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, said an internal review is examining whether regulators acted appropriately. That review will be completed by May 1.
Maureen Groppe | USA TODAY