Khazanah Nasional says unaffected by collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Khazanah Nasional Berhad has limited exposure to the problems currently faced by United States-based banks following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

Managing director Datuk Amirul Feisal Wan Zahir said the national sovereign fund had no investments in SVB and would only be affected indirectly, which was minimal at best.

“We are not affected because we have no direct exposure to SVB. When I say that, I mean no shareholding, no bond holding, no deposits and no borrowings so we don’t have exposure to that.

“The bank itself is actually a significant bank in the US and with many players in the tech industry. From what we understand, the indirect exposure is insignificant as far as we are concerned.

“But we look at implications on the general market, that’s something we continue to monitor but direct and indirect is non-existent and insignificant,” he said today during Khazanah Nasional’s annual brief.

SVB ranked as the 16th biggest bank in the US at the end of last year, with about US$209 billion in assets and US$175.4 billion in deposits.

SVB imploded after depositors, concerned about the lender’s financial health, rushed to withdraw their deposits. The frenetic two-day run on the bank blindsided observers and stunned markets, wiping out more than US$100 billion (RM451.95 billion) in market value for US banks.

Some businesses with holdings at the failed bank are already receiving offers from hedge funds to buy their stranded deposits for as little as 60 cents on the dollar.

Prior to this, Deputy Finance Minister Steven Sim told the Dewan Rakyat Malaysian banks have limited exposure to the problems faced in the US financial sector.