Dive Brief:

• The CEO and chief financial officer of SVB Financial Group, the former parent company of failed Silicon Valley Bank, stepped down last week, the firm said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• SVB Financial Group, which owned the Santa Clara, California-based bank before it was taken over by regulators last month, said Gregory Becker resigned as both a board member and CEO on Wednesday, while Daniel Beck resigned as CFO on Tuesday. 
• The company did not name a replacement for the chief executive role, but said Nicholas Grossi, managing director of advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal, will serve as the company’s interim CFO. SVB Financial announced last month that it had tapped A&M to serve as the firm’s restructuring adviser following Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse.

Dive Insight:

Grossi, who has been tasked with turning the firm around, “specializes in operational due diligence, operations management, cash flow forecasting and cash monitoring program development, business plan preparation and review, evaluation of organizational issues, stakeholder negotiations and recapitalization alternatives,” SVB Financial said in its Friday filing.

“Grossi has worked almost exclusively on large, complex engagements in a wide variety of industries, including financial services, automotive, recycling, oil and gas, manufacturing, transportation and healthcare,” the firm said.

SVB Financial also announced that it would postpone its annual meeting, which was initially scheduled for Thursday. The firm did not set a new date for the meeting.

SVB Financial filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, a week after its banking unit was taken over by regulators in the largest bank failure since Washington Mutual collapsed in 2008.

At the time of the bankruptcy filing, SVB Financial said it believed it had roughly $2.2 billion in liquidity, along with $3.7 billion in outstanding preferred stock. The company also said it owes bondholders about $3.3 billion.

After Silicon Valley Bank was seized by regulators, all of SVB Financial’s executive officers, except Becker and Beck, became employees of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, in connection with the receivership, SVB Financial said in the Friday filing.

Following his resignation, Becker entered into an agreement to provide consulting services to the firm “as needed” and at no cost to the company, SVB Financial said.

Both Becker and Beck last month were sued by SVB Financial shareholders who allege the executives failed to disclose to investors how rising interest rates would leave the firm’s banking unit “particularly susceptible to a bank run.”

Silicon Valley Bank, which catered to startups and technology companies, faced a bank run after it was forced to sell a portfolio of treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to Goldman Sachs at a $1.8 billion loss. 

To make up for it, the bank tried to raise $2.25 billion in common equity and preferred convertible stock. The move, however, spooked depositors, who withdrew $42 billion in one day — roughly a quarter of the bank’s deposits.

Last month Raleigh, North Carolina-based First Citizens BancShares agreed to buy much of Silicon Valley Bank.