Four US banks lose $52bn in market value
On Thursday, the four largest banks in the United States of America lost $52 billion in market value after shares in SVB Financial, a major lender to the technology industry, fell by 60%.
After announcing a stock offering and offloading securities to raise much-needed cash as it struggles with falling deposits, SVB Financial spooked the markets.
Deutsche Bank was one of the biggest losers on Friday, with its shares falling nearly 10% after the Frankfurt stock exchange opened, before recovering slightly later to trade around 7% lower, according to AFP.
In London, Barclays, Lloyds, and NatWest all lost up to 5% before recouping some of their losses.
France's Societe Generale dropped more than 5%, while BNP Paribas dropped more than 3%. UBS and Credit Suisse in Switzerland both fell more than 4%.
Tokyo-listed Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group lost more than 6%, while HSBC lost around 3% in Hong Kong, as did National Australia Bank in Sydney.
SVB Financial revealed that it had lost $1.8 billion as a result of the sales, raising concerns that other banks may face similar issues.
According to people familiar with the situation, SVB CEO Greg Becker attempted to reassure customers about the bank's financial health on Thursday.
According to the newspaper, Becker urged them not to withdraw their deposits from the bank and not to spread fear or panic about the bank's situation.
In order to combat decades of high inflation, central banks around the world have raised interest rates.
Higher interest rates have reduced the value of lower-yielding bonds that lenders held before central banks began raising interest rates last year.
Banks will now incur losses if they sell those assets to cover the drop in deposits.
"In theory, rising interest rates would have been a boon for the banking sector because it would have increased net interest income and allowed them to start making money on deposits again," Swissquote bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.
"But the problem is that interest rates rose too quickly," she explained.
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