Fed, SEC probing Goldman Sachs’ role in Silicon Valley Bank’s final days – WSJ

4:59 pm Thursday, June 15th, 2023

(Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Goldman Sachs Group’s role in two deals with Silicon Valley Bank that preceded the latter’s collapse, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.

Silicon Valley Bank had booked a $1.8 billion loss on the sale of a bond portfolio to Goldman. The Wall Street giant was also an underwriter for a failed share sale by the bank that eventually paved the way for its meltdown.

The Fed and the SEC are seeking documents related to Goldman’s role as both buyer of the securities portfolio and adviser on the capital raise, the report said.

They are looking to see if Goldman’s investment banking side and its trading division were improperly communicating about the portfolio sale, the report added.

Goldman had disclosed last month it was cooperating with government probes into its dealings with Silicon Valley Bank.

“SVB engaged Goldman Sachs to assist with a proposed capital raise and sold the firm a portfolio of securities. Prior to that sale, Goldman Sachs informed SVB in writing that we would not act as their advisor on the sale, and that SVB should not rely on any advice from the bank in this regard, but instead hire a third-party financial advisor,” a spokesperson for Goldman said.

Goldman’s shares closed up 0.4% at $339.12, after having risen as much as 1.6% earlier in the day.

In March, Reuters reported U.S. prosecutors were investigating the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The probe by the Fed and the SEC were part of the broader probes, the WSJ report added.

An SEC spokesperson said in an emailed statement the agency “does not comment on the existence or nonexistence of a possible investigation”. A spokesperson for the Fed declined to comment.

Silicon Valley Bank’s demise sent shockwaves through the industry and brought on the worst crisis for the sector in 15 years.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar and Chris Prentice in New York; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Maju Samuel)