UK finance minister says SVB rescue necessary to protect UK tech

LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) – Finance minister Jeremy Hunt stated on Monday the rescue of SVB’s UK arm by HSBC was essential to assist defend a few of Britain’s most essential expertise firms.

“We had been confronted with a state of affairs the place we may have seen a few of our most essential firms, our most strategic firms worn out and that may have been extraordinarily harmful,” Hunt instructed reporters on Monday.

Requested about HSBC’s white knight function, Hunt stated the finance ministry had been impartial as to what the answer for SVB’s UK arm was, and his precedence was to keep away from utilizing British taxpayer cash.

“We had been taking a look at all choices and we wanted to make certain that if the sale did not occur, we had different options prepared,” he stated.

He repeated reassurances that the state of affairs with SVB’s UK arm didn’t pose any threat for Britain’s monetary system.

“The UK banking system is extraordinarily safe, it is properly capitalised,” he stated.

Reporting by Sarah Younger, Enhancing by Kylie MacLellan

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