It is about Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The American bank that for decades has lent money to tech companies and invested in start-ups in the industry. On Thursday, the bank announced that it had sold securities at large losses – something that shook the entire banking world. SVB fell 60 percent on the stock market after the announcement on Thursday, and another 70 percent in pre-market trading before the American stock market opening. Due to the sharp fall, trading in the company was halted on Friday. According to information to CNBC, the bank is for sale after a failed new issue. Swedish pension company among the losers The Swedish occupational pension company Alecta owns around 4.5 percent of SVB, and has already lost billions on that holding. – We started investing in 2019 and the stock did quite well the first two years, then of course it has done very badly in the last two days. The investment is something we have to analyze in the coming days, says Jacob Lapidus, press manager at Alecta. “Billions are at stake” How much money Alecta lost is hard to say, says Jacob Lapidus, because a lot is happening in the stock, which is now trading halted on the American stock exchange. – But it is about billions, says Jacob Lapidus. Alecta’s holdings in SVB were just over 1.5 percent of the share portfolio before the price drop. The pension company also owns holdings in Swedbank and SEB, as well as the American banks First Republic and Signature bank. Concerns throughout the banking sector Concerns have spread to other banks. Swedbank fell on Friday by roughly seven percent, and SEB and Nordea by roughly four percent. Deutsche bank fell almost ten percent, while Britain’s Barclays and HSBC lost around five percent in London.
t4-general
Banking chaos after the collapse of the US bank – Swedish pension company losers
