The panic around the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank in the US led to another bank’s doors being closed days after as the largest banking failure in the retail industry since the 2008 financial crash shocked investors and lenders alike. Signature Bank, formed in 2001, was shut down by New York-based lender regulators before being taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the agency in the US that insures bank deposits.
Now, an old promotional video of Signature Bank co-founder, CEO and others talking about setting up a new bank has surfaced online where the boss assures that the bank will never fail and that it would be “built to last and enthrall”.
Substack blogger and money manager Genevieve Roch-Decter shared the around nine-year-old video on Twitter saying: “The execs also tried their hands at a comedy sketch/musical combo. I'm speechless.” She also said that the management spent millions on such videos.
The nearly 2-minute long clip features co-founder Scott Shay, CEO Joseph DePaolo where people tell them setting up a bank was the “stupidest idea”.
The video begins with the top bosses and executives getting ready in the dressing room for the shoot.
"Look, the only way we are going to do this thing is if we start a bank from scratch," co-founder Shay tells the others.
"From scratch?" John Tamberlane, the bank's vice chairman, replied adding: "You gotta be kidding".
"How in the world do you do that?" the bank’s CEO DePaolo said. "Is there a book 'How to Build a Bank for Dummies?'"
The group also eventually breaks into a song saying this was the "the stupidest idea that I have ever heard".
"We're sick of the stank of the major bank so we start one? It's absurd," the three bankers sing. "What a terrible proposition - like convincing the world to eat kale," they sing in chorus.
And then a premonition.
"What possible fate will become of our bank other than to diminish and fail?" others asked Shay in the video.
"I happen to know for a fact that won't happen,” he responded confidently.
Many other promotional videos of the bank were shared on Twitter by others and Genevieve Roch-Decter shared a couple more in the same thread.
“Is it surprising that Signature Bank failed? Their executive team spent millions of dollars to produce music videos & TV shows about themselves. Try not to cringe as you watch this,” she wrote sharing another clip.
She also said that a former employee of the bank, that she knows, claimed that the management of the bank was like the popular US TV show “The Office” where they spent money on parody videos.
“Who would have trusted their money to these guys after watching this video? This is a circus not a bank,” she added with another video.
Signature Bank became the third largest banking failure in the country (after Washington Mutual and SVB) with the government saying the lender had almost $110.4 billion in assets. The bank had 40 branches across the country.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
