Biden: Banking system is 'safe' following SVB collapse

Calls for greater regulation

President Joe Biden has said the banking system is “safe” following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and has vowed to implement stiffer regulations of the sector.

"I am going to ask Congress and the banking regulators to strengthen the rules for banks to make it less likely this kind of bank failure would happen again," he said in a speech today (13 March). The 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was former president Barack Obama's signature regulatory legislation following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. However, in 2018, former president Donald Trump eased those rules to raise the threshold that banks are considered systemically risky and subject to stricter oversight from $50bn to $250bn. SVB had $209bn in assets...