KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli does not expect any direct impact on Malaysian companies arising from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
Replying to a Twitter user who has asked him if the “SVB crash wave could reach Malaysia”, Rafizi said it likely will not as no Malaysian firm has deposits at SVB.
He said it is mostly the big startups in Silicon Valley that had accounts at SVB.
“But if the collapse drags the US banking and the capital markets temporarily, it might have some drags on us too albeit at a much smaller scale,”he said.
The fallout from SVB has sent ripples across the world since last week.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Sunday (March 12) that British start-ups backed by venture capital have around £2.5 billion pounds (RM13.6 billion), largely in deposits, "locked" in Silicon Valley Bank's UK subsidiary.
The total includes more than 300 companies with accounts at SVB UK, more than a third of which risk running into cash-flow difficulty within a month if no solution is found for the ailing lender, the survey found.
Regulatory disclosures show SVB had some US$2.9 billion worth of loans at its UK arm at the end of last year, along with more than US$1 billion in bonds.
The total volume of deposits at the British subsidiary is unclear, said Reuters.
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