Acquirer of Silicon Valley Bank announces layoffs at the failed institution

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The bank that acquired the remnants of Silicon Valley Bank after it failed amid a March bank run announced layoffs Wednesday.

First Citizens Bank of Raleigh, North Carolina, said it was cutting about 500 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce.

CEO Frank Holding said the move would only affect “select” corporate Silicon Valley Bank positions, adding that neither employees in customer-facing jobs, nor members of a team based in India, would be impacted.

Silicon Valley Bank was caught unprepared when the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates earlier this year, a move that reduced the value of its reserves of Treasury bonds. It was walloped again when the tech clientele it had courted rushed to withdraw their funds. The bank served mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies, including some of the industry’s best-known brands.

It was the nation’s 16th-largest bank, and at the time its rout represented the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history. Aftershocks from its failure rattled the financial system, leading to the failure of Signature Bank and First Republic Bank, and putting several other banks under financial strain.