SVB Faces Backlash For $73.4M Black Lives Matter Donation
The Claremont Institute’s new database has revealed that Silicon Valley Bank donated $73.45 million to the Black Lives Matter movement and other related social causes. The bank pledged to augment its commitment to “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)” in the workplace in 2020. This was during the time when the U.S. was in the midst of racial unrest following the death of George Floyd under police custody.
JUST IN: Silicon Valley Bank $SIVB donated $73,450,000 to "Black Lives Matter Movement & Related Causes." pic.twitter.com/dKQN8mwRbT
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 15, 2023
Downfall of Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, which marked one of the largest bank failures in the United States, has raised several red flags over the past few days. Multiple agencies are now investigating the bank, and the SEC is looking into Silicon Valley Bank executives’ stock sales before the bank’s failure.
Fox News reported that around two-thirds of the bank’s workforce met the “diversity” criteria, according to a report from August 2020. Another report that year lauded the bank’s achievements in supporting minorities. CEO Greg Becker’s introductory letter to the report said that the bank acclaimed employee matching programs that focused on “pandemic response, social justice, sustainability, and supporting women, Black and Latinx emerging talent, and other underrepresented groups.”
Prioritizing Woke Politics over Customer Protection
Executive Director of Consumers’ Research, Will Hild, told The Federalist that Silicon Valley Bank’s failure after its left-wing activism “is yet another indication that SVB was focused on woke virtue signaling, instead of protecting their customers’ deposits.” Hild added, “Time after time, we see the same pattern: companies that are most concerned with ESG scores and woke politics do the worst jobs serving their customers. The rest of corporate America should learn from SVB’s failure now, before they are the next company to make headlines for comically poor management.”
The investigation by multiple agencies into Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and the SEC’s investigation into its executives’ stock sales have raised concerns over the bank’s focus on diversity and social causes instead of protecting its customers’ deposits. The case serves as a cautionary tale for other companies that prioritize ESG scores and woke politics over their core responsibilities.
