Zions Bank seeks calm after stocks slide

Shares in Utah-based Zions Bancorp were down Monday as markets traded nervously the day after federal regulators guaranteed depositors' assets at the failed Silicon Valley Bank.

• Meanwhile, Utah's tech sector was still experiencing uncertainty, with half of firms estimated to have accounts with SVB.

Catch up quick: In the past week, federal regulators shuttered SVB and two other failing tech- and crypto-oriented banks.

• After a weekend of warnings, the federal government intervened Sunday.

Details: Shares in Zions Bancorp plummeted 44% when trading opened Monday but came back to close at a loss of about 25%.

• Other midsize banks in the west took an even bigger drubbing than Zions' did.

The latest: Zions Bank was among several financial institutions that scrambled to reassure clients they weren't prone to the same vulnerabilities as those that failed.

What they're saying: In a Monday letter to customers, Zions Bank president Scott Anderson said SVB and Signature were "set apart" from other banks by "their extremely high growth rates in recent years" and high concentrations of "large, uninsured deposits" from tech and crypto clients.

By the numbers: SVB's average account is 22 times the average size of Zions Bank's 1.4 million accounts, Anderson said.

• About 5% of SVB's accounts were insured, compared to about half at Zions.

Between the lines: It would take a lot more withdrawals from Zions to seriously threaten its liquidity.