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A worker (centre) tells people that the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters is closed on 10 March, 2023 in Santa Clara, California.
Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / AFP
A New Zealand technology company with money trapped in collapsed Silicon Valley Bank says it is breathing easier at the news depositors will get all their money.
US authorities have ensured depositors at the bank and a second bank, Signature, can access their funds at the start of the US working week.
A second bank Signature, also heavily involved with the crypto currency industry, was put under federal control as authorities tried to shore up confidence in the banking system after the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
Silicon Valley Bank specialised in banking for tech start-ups – some New Zealand technology companies have also been caught up in the collapse, including Xero, which had about $5m in the failed bank.
The chief executive of digital measurement device company ikeGPS Glenn Milnes said they had more than $5m in the bank and it had been a difficult few days.
Milnes said the company had deposited money in different institutions to minimise its risks and that’s been backed by events.
Only one other listed company, Comvita, has disclosed money in Silicon Valley Bank, but it is understood a range of technology-oriented private investment concerns have money trapped.
The executive director of the New Zealand Private Capital Association, Colin McKinnon, said SVB’s collapse could see overseas investors reassess their risk profiles, but Aotearoa’s tech sector should largely be spared.
“The information I have is that the investors in New Zealand understand the New Zealand market very well and they’re very interested in the exciting technology that we have,” he said.
“I don’t think the appetite for New Zealand assets is going to change, but investors will be impacted to various degrees in their home base and that may affect their liquidity for a moment or their appetite for risk, but I don’t think it’s going to change the profile of their interest in New Zealand at all.”
McKinnon said early-stage companies in the US may struggle to raise capital as funders pull back.
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