US government intervenes to prevent banking crisis

Regulators had worked all weekend to try to find a buyer for the bank, which was the second-largest bank failure in history

A Silicon Valley Bank sign is shown (Peter Morgan/AP)

The US government took extraordinary steps to stop a potential banking crisis after the historic failure of Silicon Valley Bank, assuring all depositors at the failed institution that they could access all their money quickly, even as another major bank was shut down.

The announcement came amid fears that the factors that caused the Santa Clara, California-based bank to fail could spread.