Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker sold shares in the bank lats month.Credit:Bloomberg
On Friday,Silicon Valley Bank failed after a week of tumult fuelled by a letter the firm sent to shareholders that it would try to raise more than $US2 billion in capital after taking losses. The announcement sent shares in the company plunging,even as Becker urged clients to stay calm.
Neither Becker nor SVB immediately responded to questions about his share sale,and whether the CEO was aware of the bank’s plans for the capital raise attempt when he filed the trading plan. The sales were made through a revocable trust controlled by Becker,filings show.
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Democratic Representative Ro Khanna,whose district includes the city where the bank has its headquarters,toldThe Washington Postthat Becker should give the money back.
“There should be a clawback of any of that money,” Khanna said. “It should be going to the depositors.”
Prearranged plans
There’s nothing illegal about corporate trading plans like the one Becker used. The plans were set up by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2000 to thwart the possibility of insider trading. The idea is to avoid malfeasance by limiting sales to predetermined dates on which an executive can sell shares,and the timing could merely have been coincidental.