Mumbai's 'SVC', not California's SVB! Co-operative bank tells customers it hasn't gone bust

The closure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has led to confusion in the minds of some customers of a Mumbai-based bank, who mistook the California-based lender with the cooperative bank due to the similarity in their names. Since the collapse of the SVB Financial Group on Friday, Mumbai-based "SVC Co-operative Bank" is flooded with enquiries from distressed customers about the safety of their deposits.

So much so that SVC Co-operative Bank (SVC Bank) had to issue a clarification saying that it is "completely unrelated to Silicon Valley Bank".

"SVC Bank is completely unrelated to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) that was based in California. We request our members, customers and other stakeholders not to pay attention to baseless rumours and mischief-mongering by unscrupulous elements insinuating similarities in brand names," SVC Bank wrote.

The bank added that it reserves the right to take due legal action on rumour mongers for tarnishing its brand image.

"SVC Bank (SVC Co-operative Bank Ltd., formerly known as The Shamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank Ltd.) is a 116-year-old Indian multi-state scheduled urban co-operative bank with operations only in India. It has proven, robust and strong fundamentals with a total business of over Rs. 31,500 crores and a net profit of over Rs. 146 crores (FY 21-22)," the statement mentioned.

Replying to one of the customers who tweeted asking the SVC Bank to confirm the rumours of bank default, the bank said, "You have got the twitter handle wrong. We are SVC Bank, erstwhile Shamrao Vithal Cooperative Bank, one of the leading and strongest cooperative banks in India with a legacy of 116 years. We have no relation to Silicon Valley Bank."

SVB, which was closed on Friday, is known for lending money to some of the biggest technology startups. It became the largest American bank to fail since the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008. The lender, based in Santa Clara, was ranked as the 16th biggest in the US at the end of last year, with about $209 billion in assets and about $175 billion in deposits at the end of 2022.

The embattled startup-focused lender was closed by California regulators and put under the control of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

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