Crisis comms advice from Silicon Valley Bank’s historic bank run

In March 2023, what was then Silicon Valley Bank endured a historic bank run and subsequent collapse when it sold investment securities at a loss of $1.8 billion, prompted by rising inflation and interest rates. After clients and companies scrambled to get their money out — at a rate of about $1 million every second — the bank failed and was placed into FDIC receivership.

Needless to say, the communications leaders at the institution — now known as Silicon Valley Bank, A Division of First Citizens Bank — were forced into a largely unforeseeable crisis situation few will face in their careers, and one that’s nearly impossible to prepare for.

At Ragan’s 2024 Employee Communications and Culture Conference, we sat down with Brendan Smith-Bentley, who has worked for Silicon Valley Bank for more than two decades and currently serves as head of internal communications at the organization in its post-run era, to talk through lessons learned from this largely unprecedented moment.

“Within 24 hours, a company with a long proud rich history, employees that believed in the mission, vision and culture of the industry, found out that they didn’t have a company anymore,” he said.