Are we experiencing the beginning of a new banking crisis? Economist Martin Hellwig on the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, the takeover of Credit Suisse – and why banks and supervisory authorities have once again reacted too late.
Professor Hellwig, are we witnessing the beginning of a major new banking crisis?
Hard to say. In the US, the situation appears to have stabilised. Silicon Valley Bank is closed and all depositors are protected. Other banks continue to withdraw deposits, but banks can replace those funds with Federal Reserve loans. In this respect, the situation there is under control. In the case of the major Swiss bank Credit Suisse, this is less clear even after it was taken over by its previous competitor UBS. One problem is that from the outside you can’t really tell what’s behind the bank’s numbers. There could still be explosives in there.
Source: Stern
