The UK government is holding crisis talks to explore a rescue package for tech startups facing a cashflow crunch following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
The Treasury said it is looking at ways to “minimise the damage” to the UK’s startup ecosystem after the Bank of England moved to put the UK arm of the Californian bank into insolvency on Friday evening.
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB, is the biggest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.
The run on the specialist lender has sent shockwaves across the Atlantic. The failure of its UK subsidiary prompted emergency talks between the prime minister, chancellor and the governor of the Bank of England over the weekend.
The Treasury said the government is treating it as a “high priority”. It added that Silicon Valley Bank UK’s “failure could have a significant impact on the liquidity of the tech ecosystem”....