#shorts Kennedy asked “You’re the CEO … you don’t know whether you were hedged or not?”
Kennedy: You didn’t have Hedges, did you?
Witness: Senator, as previously mentioned, the decision around Hedges was made by our asset liability committee.

Kennedy: you were the CEO of the bank. You didn’t have Hedges, did you?
Witness: Senator, there were Hedges that were put in place, but I don’t recall the details around when they were put in place.
Kennedy: You’re the CEO, and you didn’t, have 55% of your assets in government bonds, and you don’t know whether you were hedged or not?

Witness: Senator, as previously mentioned, I don’t have access to my SVB documents. So, well, here’s what
Kennedy: I know that, and I wasn’t CEO. You weren’t hedged. Now, if you’d bought those Hedges, that would have cut into your profits, wouldn’t it?

Witness: Senator, I don’t know the details of the decisions that the team were evaluating

On 5/16/2023, Top executives at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank largely avoided taking responsibility for their banks’ dramatic failures at a Senate hearing, instead using their time to assign blame to events they said were largely out of their control. Greg Becker, Silicon Valley Bank’s former CEO, took the brunt of the criticism from committee members. An exasperated Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, pointed out that Silicon Valley Bank even sold off financial contracts, known as hedges, that could have mitigated some of the impact of rising rates. He called the bank’s interest rate management “bone deep, to the marrow, stupid.” Becker was criticized repeatedly for handing off the bank’s interest rate risk issues to a committee instead of being more directly involved, as well as the fact that Silicon Valley Bank was repeatedly found deficient in multiple parts of its businesses by bank regulators. He was also criticized for going to Hawaii immediately after his bank failed. Becker received compensation valued at roughly $9.9 million in 2022, and also sold stock in the company only a few weeks before it failed.

other clips of this published longer video is here: https://youtu.be/jSALoIyf-04
Kennedy asked “You’re the CEO … you don’t know whether you were hedged or not?”