Eamon Quinn: Bank collapses and corporate failures - haven’t we seen this all before?

Any ambitions to reform Ireland’s dysfunctional banking market have gone out the door in the wake of the recent global banking crisis, as Irish households and businesses continue to pay some hefty margins on their loans, writes Business Editor Eamon Quinn

Silicon Valley Bank, a lender to once-booming tech startups, got itself into trouble over a bunch of long-dated government bonds on its balance sheet, just as global interest rates shot higher. Picture: Philip Pacheco/Bloomberg

The collapse of a US bank that no one in Ireland had heard of alerted the world that all was not well with global banking. By this weekend, it was abundantly clear that the turmoil was getting worse and not better.

Silicon Valley Bank, a lender to once-booming tech startups, got itself into trouble over a bunch of long-dated government bonds on its balance sheet, just as global interest rates shot higher.