Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse in the United States should not have a major impact on Taiwan’s economy. That was the word from Economic Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花) on Monday, after the Californian bank closed on March 10.
SVB was the 16th largest bank in the United States, and its closure marks the biggest US bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. US banking regulators shut down the bank because it didn’t have enough cash to pay depositors, who had panicked about the bank’s stability and rushed to withdraw funds.
Wang says Taiwan and the United States are connected, but the US government has already stepped up to resolve the banking issue. She adds that the situation will likely have a better outcome with US federal intervention and it won’t affect Taiwan much.
Chief statistician Chu Tzer-ming (朱澤民) says SVB is a local bank with clients in the tech industry, so its failure will not trigger systemic risk or a financial crisis. He adds that the bank’s closure may affect Taiwan’s stock market, but this will not cause the country’s economic growth to slide.