by Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will speak on Monday on the banking crisis that led regulators to take a series of emergency measures after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

His intervention is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT), according to the White House, before the opening of the American markets (1:30 p.m. GMT).

On Sunday, Joe Biden hinted at new regulations for big banks but that is set to come up against a divided Congress unsupportive of tougher rules.

“The American people and businesses can be confident that their bank deposits will be there when they need them,” Joe Biden said in a statement on Sunday.

“I am determined to hold those responsible for this mess to account and to continue our efforts to strengthen the supervision and regulation of the big banks so that we do not find ourselves in such a situation again,” he said.

He said he would unveil further plans on Monday to keep the economy on track in the face of the crisis triggered by the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).

The independent agency Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FICB) said on Monday it had transferred all deposits from Silicon Valley Bank to a newly created bridge bank and that all depositors would have access to their money starting Monday morning.

During the financial crisis of 2008, the United States had reinforced its regulations on banks with the framework law of the “Dodd-Frank Act” but this was partially revised under the presidency of Donald Trump.

The amendments to the Dodd-Frank Act notably increased the threshold at which banks are considered to present a systemic risk and are subject to stricter supervision from $50 billion to $250 billion.

Silicon Valley Bank had $209 billion in assets at the end of last year.

(Report Simon Lewis; with the contribution of Susan Heavey; Blandine Hénault for the , edited by Matthieu Protard)

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