Updated May 24, 2023 - Economy & Business

Scoop: First Citizens lays off almost 500 Silicon Valley Bank employees

Silicon Valley Bank branch

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

First Citizens Bancshares on Wednesday laid off nearly 500 Silicon Valley Bank employees, two months after buying the failed lender, Axios has learned from multiple sources.

Details: Almost all of the layoffs were in SVB's commercial banking business, rather than its private wealth management group.

  • According to an email sent this morning to all employees by First Citizens CEO Frank Holding Jr., none of the eliminated position were "client facing," nor were they India-based support staff.
  • A source says the layoffs represent less than 3% of First Citizens' total workforce.

What they're saying: In his email, Holding Jr. wrote: "Given the challenges faced by SVB in early 2023, it is increasingly clear that we must make decisions to right-size our scope and scale to remain competitive."

  • He added: "As a result, we are taking difficult but necessary actions to ensure that our workforce and costs are appropriate for a bank our size. That means that some members of our team will be transitioning out of the business effective today."

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