Four months ago, the name Silicon Valley Bank would have brought to mind sleepless nights and frantic calls for much of the tech industry.
But this week the tech and start-up lender now owned by HSBC is set to headline London Tech Week in the bank’s first major public relations push since it was rescued from collapse in March.
The lender, reportedly set to be renamed HSBC Innovation Banking, will post speakers at the three-day flagship event at the Queen Elizabeth II Center in Westminster, with boss Erin Platts alongside HSBC UK chief Ian Stuart giving delegates a ‘refueling Ready to address on the topic of ‘. UK Entrepreneurship’.
Among many other sessions, the bank’s venture, early stage investment and transformation boss will look at ‘Why the UK is a leading opportunity centre’ and targeting the right investors.
The speech with Stuart will mark the Platts’ first major public involvement since the implosion of the start-up focused lender, and will likely launch a public rehabilitation drive after an incredible year at the helm
Platts’ handling of the crisis angered some when he said the UK branch was a ring-fenced entity to allay fears spreading across the Atlantic, but he was forced to retract his comments hours after the bank collapsed. I was forced to
HSBC swooped in to buy UK units for one pound as part of an eleventh-hour rescue deal to save the bank from bankruptcy.
The HSBC boss has also been a major attraction aggressively to keep customers with the bank.
A techie customer of the lender, who had all his cash tied up in HSBC, said city am, He stayed with the bank partly because he met with the bosses of HSBC in the wake of the collapse.
“We’ve put all our money with SVB UK largely because the service and relationship with SVB have remained excellent,” said Ash Ramrachia, founder and head of Manchester-based tech talent firm Academy.
“We have the additional security of HSBC firepower. We now also have the benefit of HSBC’s international banking capabilities, which greatly improves the product offering.
Ramrachia said he also personally met HSBC’s Group Chair, Group CEO and UK CEO, who “underscored their commitment to technology as a key industry”.
Academy was one of the firms fearing for their survival in March when they were unable to access their cash.
HSBC has publicly committed to continuing to lend to start-ups and tech firms, Stuart told a conference last week that it would continue to support such firms “from seed funding to IPO”.
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