How Pennsylvania banks compare to Silicon Valley Bank

How Pennsylvania banks compare to Silicon Valley Bank

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - How sudden and surprising was Silicon Valley Bank's failure Friday, even to close observers? One way to answer that question: The bank wasn't mentioned even once in Thursday morning editions of The Wall Street Journal.

Now, as the world woke up Monday morning with concerns about "contagion" referring for the first time in years not to a literal virus but to the possibility of more bank failures, experts and consumers alike are trying to figure out what's next.

First and most important: Anyone with less than $250,000 in any bank account insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, is protected even if that person's bank fails. Account holders in that situation at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) were always going to have full access to their money Monday morning, even before Federal officials announced Sunday night protection for all SVB account holders, regardless of how much is in their accounts.

For anyone wondering how many people have more than $250,000 in a bank account (money that was unprotected at SVB and that remains unprotected at other banks) the answer at most banks– but not at SVB – is not too many.

Just 6% of money on domestic deposit at SVB was protected by FDIC insurance as of Dec. 31, 2022, according to a CBS News analysis of FDIC data. By contrast, at all Pennsylvania-based banks, the equivalent insured-funds figures ranged from 36% at Republic Bank in Philadelphia – six times the SVB figure – to fully 95% at Somerset Trust. In other words, nearly all the money there is under the $250,000 FDIC threshold.

At Pennsylvania's largest bank and America's sixth-largest, Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank, the figure is 55%.

SVB was America's 16th largest bank, ranked by deposits, based on U.S. Federal Reserve data. Republic Bank is the 209th largest. Somerset Trust is the 477th largest.

The equivalent figures for all 71 Pennsylvania deposit banks with branches are in the chart below.

"SVB was unusual in its heavy reliance on uninsured deposits by a concentrated group of VCs [venture-capital firms] and startups," former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair told CBS News Sunday. "Once a few started to run, they encouraged others. Word spread fast."

Pennsylvania's equivalent to the California agency that worked with federal regulators to close Silicon Valley Bank told CBS News in a statement Monday that it "carefully monitors and examines all 104 Pennsylvania chartered banks for capital adequacy, asset quality, management, earnings, liquidity and sensitivity."

"The Department of Banking and Securities is working with the federal regulators and monitoring the situation closely," it said.

Banks profit by taking some of the money on deposit and lending it to other people and businesses, charging them interest. So banks rarely have enough money on hand to give all depositors all their money at once, but that's rarely a problem because depositors rarely demand so much money at once. When they do, it's called a "bank run." Bank runs helped bring about the great depression – which, in turn, led to the creation of the FDIC to restore consumer confidence in banks.

SVB's failure was the second-largest U.S. bank failure in history, behind the 2008 failure of Washington Mutual Bank. Hundreds of American banks failed during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. By contrast, not one American bank failed in all of 2021 and 2022.

On Sunday, a second bank – New York's Signature Bank – failed. Sure enough, just 11% of Signature Bank's money on deposit was FDIC insured, among the lowest figures of any American bank other than SVB's 6%.

As for other "regional banks," as banks such as SVB are often called?

"Most regional banks have a diverse set of depositors: households who remain below insured limits or loyal institutions that have longstanding, multiple-product relationships with the bank," Bair said. "These 'core' deposits are not prone to run."

Here are all Pennsylvania deposit banks with branches, ranked by size and showing the percentage of their deposited funds covered by FDIC insurance, with SVB also listed for comparison:

Nat'l rank by total deposits

Bank name

Location in Pennsylvania

Percentage of domestic deposits FDIC insured

6

PNC Bank

Pittsburgh

55%

16

Silicon Valley Bank

Santa Clara, Calif.

6%

50

FNB

Pittsburgh

54%

72

Fulton Bank

Lancaster

67%

86

Customers Bank

Phoenixville

51%

137

First Commonwealth Bank

Indiana

74%

151

S&T Bank

Indiana

66%

177

Univest

Souderton

46%

209

Republic Bank

Philadelphia

36%

222

CNB Bank

Clearfield

61%

248

Mid Penn Bank

Millersburg

58%

294

Peoples Security Bank

Scranton

91%

346

Orrstown Bank

Shippensburg

80%

388

ACNB Bank

Gettysburg

86%

394

C&N

Wellsboro

66%

409

Fidelity Bank

Dunmore

55%

417

First Citizens Community Bank

Mansfield

61%

432

PeoplesBank

York

81%

457

Meridian Bank

Paoli

52%

464

Wayne Bank

Honesdale

89%

477

Somerset Trust

Somerset

95%

479

NexTier Bank

Kittanning

48%

506

Ephrata National Bank

Ephrata

77%

534

FNCB Bank

Dunmore

73%

539

F&M Trust

Chambersburg

92%

551

QNB

Quakertown

66%

555

Embassy Bank

Bethlehem

62%

608

Jersey Shore State Bank

Williamsport

57%

623

Community Bank

Carmichaels

71%

642

AmeriServ Bank

Johnstown

71%

644

1st Summit Bank

Johnstown

68%

656

First Keystone Community Bank

Berwick

55%

677

Kish Bank

Belleville

83%

690

The First National Bank & Trust

Newtown

78%

740

LinkBank

Camp Hill

65%

745

Bank of Bird-in-Hand

Bird in Hand

75%

802

Malvern Bank

Paoli

74%

828

First Northern Bank and Trust

Palmerton

69%

853

The Dime Bank

Honesdale

75%

878

First Columbia Bank & Trust

Bloomsburg

88%

889

American Bank

Allentown

69%

891

Honesdale National Bank

Honesdale

77%

936

Jonestown Bank and Trust

Jonestown

82%

967

Juniata Valley Bank

Mifflintown

82%

1013

Atlantic Community Bankers Bank

Camp Hill

44%

1019

Traditions Bank

York

74%

1094

Pennian Bank

Mifflintown

75%

1119

Northumberland National Bank

Northumberland

79%

1206

Muncy Bank & Trust

Mucny

72%

1233

New Tripoli Bank

New Tripoli

75%

1241

Woodlands Bank

Williamsport

69%

1242

Mauch Chunk Trust Company

Jim Thorpe

74%

1367

Susquehanna Community Bank

West Milton

70%

1374

Mercer County State Bank

Sandy Lake

81%

1378

Luzerne Bank

Luzerne

75%

1386

Mifflinburg Bank & Trust

Mifflinburg

76%

1387

PS Bank

Wyalusing

77%

1444

First Resource Bank

Exton

77%

1449

Mars Bank

Mars

68%

1549

Neffs National Bank

Neffs

84%

1589

Community State Bank

Orbisonia

91%

1592

Asian Bank

Philadelphia

66%

1615

Hamlin Bank & Trust

Smethport

85%

1675

Victory Bank

Limerick

68%

1704

Commercial Bank & Trust

Latrobe

84%

1781

Marion Center Bank

Indiana

88%

1827

Fleetwood Bank

Fleetwood

88%

1858

Bank of Landisburg

Landisburg

83%

1905

First United National Bank

Fryburg

81%

1926

Elderton State Bank

Elderton

78%

1970

Hometown Bank

Bedford

77%

2003

Hyperion Bank

Philadelphia

54%

Source: CBS News analysis of Federal Reserve and FDIC data

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