12 Mar 2023

US bank shutdown expected to affect New Zealand's sharemarket

2:48 pm on 12 March 2023

First published on Stuff

A worker (centre) tells people that the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters is closed on 10 March, 2023 in Santa Clara, California.

A worker (centre) tells people that the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) headquarters is closed on 10 March, 2023 in Santa Clara, California. Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / AFP

An investment analyst expects New Zealand's sharemarket to take a hit when it opens on Monday after a US bank was shut down by regulators.

It is the largest bank failure since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and comes after a rush of withdrawals from Silicon Valley Bank in California.

Craig's Investment Partners investment director Mark Lister said the US sharemarket fell off the back of it, and New Zealand would follow suit.

"You'll see our sharemarket start the week on the backfoot because [it was] closed up when the [news broke]," Lister said.

"Wall Street nervousness always has an impact on our market."

New Zealand's Rocket Lab has US$38 million (NZ$61.96m) in Silicon Valley Bank, Stuff reported.

A spokesperson for Rocket Lab said the money was about 7.9 percent of the company's US$484m total cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities as of 31 December.

She said the company was not facing a liquidity issue because 92 percent of its money was with other financial institutions.

"[We] do not expect it to impact our operations at this time.

"The process for recovering all, or a portion, of Rocket Lab's funds with SVB will be a highly regulated one that will play out over time, and we'll monitor its progress closely."

Lister doubted it would have a major impact on the stability of New Zealand banks, or on the tech sector here.

A pedestrian speaks on a mobile telephone as he walks past Silicon Valley Bank’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California on March 10, 2023. - US authorities swooped in and seized the assets of SVB, a key lender to US startups since the 1980s, after a run on deposits made it no longer tenable for the medium-sized bank to stay afloat on its own. (Photo by NOAH BERGER / AFP)

A pedestrian outside Silicon Valley Bank's headquarters in Santa Clara, California on March 10, 2023. Photo: AFP / Noah Berger

Overall, the tech sector remained one of the most exciting parts of the sharemarket, Lister said.

But it was more bad news for people already wary about inflation and other big structural issues in New Zealand, Lister said.

"Just like add it to the list right?

"We've got plenty of reasons to be a little bit nervous, we've got a housing market that has fallen sharply, we've got interest rates that are going up, we've got the prospect of recession."

He said those were the main issues in New Zealand.

- RNZ w/Stuff