Silicon Valley Bank UK Arm SVBUK has rolled out millions of pounds in bonuses to employees, days after it was rescued from collapse by British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company, HSBC Holdings Plc.
Reports disclose that the payouts of bonuses to employees which included senior executives were signed off by HSBC. Sources familiar with the story reveal that the bonuses totaled between £15 million and £20 million.
Insiders revealed that the payments of bonus payments were a signal of HSBC’s confidence in the talent base at its new subsidiary and that the buyer has been keen to honor previously agreed payments to help retain key staff. They further noted that had it been the bank wasn’t rescued from collapse, the bonuses wouldn’t have been paid so soon.
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For 14 years, Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVB UK) has been supporting the UK innovation ecosystem, becoming the partner of choice for start-ups, scale-ups, venture capitalists, and private equity firms. SVB UK was a subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank, a Delaware corporation and subsidiary of SVB Financial Group. It entered the UK market in 2004 and is serving the UK technology and life-sciences sectors, assisting entrepreneurs, investors, and innovative companies, and building a portfolio of loyal customers. It has used deep sector knowledge, expertise, and capabilities to serve and grow this critical part of the economy.
It would be recalled that when Silicon Valley Bank witnessed a financial implosion that sent shock waves to so many tech startups, HSBC’s banking franchise in the UK announced that its UK ring-fenced subsidiary, HSBC UK Bank plc, will acquire the bank for £1.
Speaking on the acquisition of the tech-focused bank, Noel Quinn, HSBC Group CEO, said, “This acquisition makes excellent strategic sense for our business in the UK. It strengthens our commercial banking franchise and enhances our ability to serve innovative and fast-growing firms, including in the technology and life-science sectors, in the UK and internationally.
“We welcome SVB UK’s customers to HSBC and look forward to helping them grow in the UK and around the world. SVB UK customers can continue to bank as usual, safe in the knowledge that their deposits are backed by the strength, safety, and security of HSBC. We warmly welcome SVB UK colleagues to HSBC, we are excited to start working with them.”
HSBC will update shareholders on the acquisition in its 1Q 2023 results on 2 May 2023. UK politician Jeremy Hunt disclosed that the rescue was critical to preserving funding for some of the UK’s most promising start-up companies.
In his words, “The U.k’s sector is genuinely world-leading and of huge importance to the British economy, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. We have worked urgently to deliver on that promise and find a solution that will provide SVB UK’s customers with confidence”.
