Greg Becker, CEO of the crisis-hit Silicon Valley Bank.
Silicon Valley Bank, which catered to the tech industry for three decades, collapsed on March 10, 2023, leaving depositors scrambling for their money. Amid the financial chaos triggered by the bank’s collapse, the company’s ex-CEO was spotted in Hawaii, reported New York Post. As per the report, Greg Becker and his wife Marilyn Bautista have escaped to their Maui townhouse worth $3.1 million.
The couple reportedly enjoyed a chauffeur-driven limo ride to San Francisco Airport on Monday and first-class tickets to Hawaii. The ex-CEO was also photographed sporting shorts and flip-flops while on a stroll through Lahaina.
Mr. Becker is currently facing scrutiny after he sold $3,578,652.31 in common stock two weeks before SVB was shut down by federal regulators.
Notably, he joined the Silicon Valley Bank three decades ago in 1993 as a loan officer. According to SVB’s website, Mr Becker led the expansion of the company to include four primary businesses serving the innovation sector: global commercial banking, venture capital and credit investing, private banking and wealth management, and investment banking.
Silicon Valley Bank, established in 1983, was the 16th biggest bank in America. Before collapsing, it used to provide services to nearly half of the venture-backed technology companies in the US.
On March 10, US regulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and took control of its deposits, in what amounts to the biggest retail banking failure since the global financial crisis. After the bank’s closure, nearly $175 billion of customer deposits are now under the control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC has created a new bank, the National Bank of Santa Clara, which will now hold all the assets of Silicon Valley Bank.
The move came after a dramatic 48 hours that saw the high-tech lender’s share price plummet amid a run on deposits by concerned customers.