Silicon Valley Bank made headlines for more than just its catastrophic collapse on Friday. Online records show that the bank donated a whopping $73,450,000 million to groups related to the Black Lives Matter movement and other social justice causes.
The conservative Claremont Institute compiled the data, highlighting SVB’s pledge in the summer of 2020 to increase its commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. The bank boasted about meeting its “diversity” criteria, with around two-thirds of its workforce meeting the mark.
CEO Greg Becker touted the bank’s employee matching programs that supported a range of causes, including pandemic response, social justice, sustainability, and underrepresented groups such as women, Black, and Latinx emerging talent.
But not everyone is impressed with the bank’s social justice initiatives. Republican Representative James Comer of Kentucky took a jab at the bank’s “woke” priorities, suggesting that it was part of a wider trend that could have consequences for “bad Democrat policy.”
Meanwhile, some on the left are pointing fingers at President Trump’s rollback of regulations put in place after the 2008 financial crisis.
Former Rep. Barney Frank, who served on the board of Signature Bank, which was also shut down in connection with SVB’s collapse, denies that the regulatory change played any role in either bank’s downfall.
Other critics have flagged the bank’s rapid growth since the COVID-19 pandemic, its high level of uninsured deposits, and its investments in long-term government bonds and mortgage-backed securities, which plummeted in value as interest rates rose.
As the debate rages on, some are attempting to draw a connection between Silicon Valley Bank’s social justice donations and its “abrupt” collapse.
Maybe it’s time for banks to focus on their core business instead of trying to be woke? Just a thought.
Add comment