Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is trying project calm after regional bank failures, saying the U.S. banking system is “sound” but additional rescue arrangements “could be warranted” if any new failures at smaller institutions pose a risk to financial stability. Yellen, in an excerpt of remarks prepared for delivery to the American Bankers Association on Tuesday, says thatoverall “the situation is stabilising.”
“And the U.S. banking system remains sound,” Yellen says. Yellen’s remarks come after a series of troubling bank developments this month. Silicon Valley Bank, based in Santa Clara, California, failed on March 10 after depositors rushed to withdraw money amid anxiety over the bank’s health. It was the second-largest bank collapse in U.S. history. Regulators convened over the following weekend and announced that New York-based Signature Bank also had failed.