The Differences Between Lehman Brothers and Silicon Valley Bank

It goes without saying that investors of all stripes have been spooked by the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, as well as the Swiss National Bank facilitating UBS’ $3.2 billion purchase of Credit Suisse, First Republic Bank’s stock falling more than 70% and bank stocks, on the whole, being hammered. Many seem to think a 2008-like financial crisis is beginning. 

While it’s important not to understate the precarity of our current situation, there are major differences that make these two events, more or less, incomparable.

For one, Lehman Brothers was an investment bank, and both Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were commercial banks. The size was also quite different despite Silicon Valley Bank being the second biggest bank failure in American history. Lehman Brothers had $600 billion in assets in 2008. Silicon Valley Bank had $198 billion. Adjusting for 15 years of inflation, Silicon Valley Bank was maybe 20% the size of Lehman Brothers.

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