Silicon Valley Bank: Offer made for UK arm of failed US lender

An offer has been made for the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank after it collapsed into administration putting customer deposits at risk.

A consortium of investors led by The Bank of London, a clearing bank, said it had submitted a formal bid.

The government said it has been working "at pace" on a plan to prevent UK tech firms caught in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank from running out of cash.

Others including Barclays are also said to be considering buying the bank.

Anthony Watson, group chief executive of the Bank of London, said: "Silicon Valley Bank cannot be allowed to fail given the vital community it serves.

"This is a unique opportunity to ensure the UK has a more diversified banking sector, whilst allowing continuity of service to SVB's UK client base."

The Treasury said it wanted to "minimise damage to some of our most promising companies in the UK" after the US bank's failure on Friday.

Firms could start to run into problems on Monday morning without intervention.

US regulators shut down the lender on Friday in what is the largest failure of a US bank since 2008.

The bank's UK subsidiary will be put into insolvency from Sunday evening.