Use Brexit freedoms to cover UK deposits
Daily Mail The Government must take advantage of Brexit freedoms by giving companies more deposit protection as turmoil in the banking sector deepens, MPs and businesses have demanded.
Efforts to stem a crisis of confidence in the financial system have failed to calm nerves, with bank shares falling sharply again on Friday, led by German giant Deutsche Bank.
The turmoil was sparked a fortnight ago when Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a mid-sized lender in the US, collapsed after a sudden run on the bank.
Its UK subsidiary also saw depositors rush to withdraw cash and the Bank of England last week revealed that nearly 3 billion was pulled from SVB UK on March 10 alone, leaving it with 6.7 billion before HSBC rode to the rescue and bought it for the token price of 1.
Crucially, thousands of SVB UK customers many of them tech start-ups had uninsured deposits, meaning until HSBC stepped in, they risked losing everything above the 85,000 that is safeguarded under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
