[News Figures] Greg Becker, SVB CEO Amid Controversy Over Imminent Bankruptcy and Equity Sale

Trust Decline of SVB's Iconic Figure
Some Raise Concerns Over a 'Second Lehman Crisis'

Greg Becker, CEO of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)
[Photo by Reuters]

"The only bank CEO in the world solely dedicated to the field of innovation. The mission of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is to help innovative customers increase their chances of success globally."

The profile of SVB's head, CEO Greg Becker, posted on LinkedIn, has recently become a global topic of discussion. Just 11 days before SVB, the financial lifeline for American startups, filed for bankruptcy on the 27th of last month (local time), CEO Becker sold 12,451 shares of SVB Financial, SVB's parent company, sparking suspicions of 'insider trading.' Although the transaction was reported to financial authorities a month prior to the sale, a storm of criticism ensued.

Ironically, it is known that CEO Becker called customers on the 9th, two days before the bankruptcy news spread, assuring them that the bank was safe. He asked major customers of the bank, including venture capital (VC) investors, to "support the bank this time as the bank has supported its customers over the past 40 years."

The reason SVB's major investors and customers felt an even greater sense of betrayal over his contradictory actions is that CEO Becker was a symbolic figure of the bank, having been with SVB for 30 years. He joined in 1993 and had been leading SVB as CEO since 2011 for 12 years.

He had also been thriving in the financial industry by holding key positions. He was named among the 'Top 100 Influential People in Global Finance' by the American economic magazine Worth Magazine in 2015 and 2016. Recently, he gained attention by being included as a member of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank board. He resigned from the Federal Reserve board on the 10th, just before the bankruptcy filing.

With SVB's bankruptcy and the share sale, CEO Becker has now fallen to being a business figure who has lost the most important asset in the financial industry: 'trust.' In the U.S. Congress, voices are emerging demanding that CEO Becker return the funds earned from the share sale. Although the U.S. government has stepped in with measures to prevent a 'bank run,' concerns are growing that if the already shattered trust worsens and the situation expands, it could lead to a second Lehman Brothers crisis.