The March 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is long enough ago that it in many ways seems like ancient history. The fact is that the bank’s failure was the second largest in U.S. history, and its collapse continues to cast a shadow over the U.S. banking industry. Private civil litigation against company executives, on behalf of investors and others, followed immediately in the wake of the bank’s collapse, but at least until now the post-collapse lawsuits have not included an action by the FDIC, as often follows after a bank failure. However, as discussed below, on December 17, 2024, the FDIC’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to authorize the agency staff’s request for authorization to file a suit against six former officers and 11 former directors of SVB and its holding company, SVB Financial Group.Continue Reading FDIC Board of Directors Authorizes Suit Against SVB Officials
Want some good news? During calendar year 2018, there were exactly zero bank failures in the United States. Zero. Nil. Nada. Zilch. The last time there were no U.S. bank failures was waaaay back in 2006. Needless to say, a lot has happened since then. But the best part of all is that because of a strong economy, and because of the purifying effects of the financial refiners’ fire, the banking sector is as healthy as it has been in many years. Hugh Son’s January 10, 2019 CNBC article about the U.S. banks’ current healthy state can be found 
One of the most contentious issues in the litigation the FDIC has been pursuing in its capacity as receiver of various failed banks is whether the defendant former directors and officers can assert affirmative defenses against the FDIC for the agency’s own conduct.