The US government took emergency measures on Sunday to shore up the US banking system after Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank collapsed, reports BBC News. Silicon Valley Bank was a bank to more than 2,500 venture capital firms, including firms involved in the workforce solutions ecosystem such as Bain Capital and Insight Partners. Signature Bank is also involved with many professional services firms. SVB, which specialised in lending to technology companies, was shut down by regulators who seized its assets on Friday. It was the largest failure of a US bank since the financial crisis in 2008. SVB was seen as a crucial lender for early-stage businesses in the tech sector. It was the banking partner for nearly half of US venture-backed technology and healthcare companies listed on stock markets last year. SVB was scrambling to raise money to plug a loss from the sale of assets affected by higher interest rates.

A statement from the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) said depositors would be fully protected. The taxpayer will not bear any losses from the move, it said.