Remember the dotcom boom of the late 1990s? No. Well spare a thought for poor Matthew Fosh, SVB's chief executive. Those days haunt him like Banquo's ghost. According to reports this week, SVB is trying to finally bury its horrendous exposures to US D&O and financial institutions business dating back to 1997-2001. It is understood plans are being hatched between SVB and Lloyd's to ring-fence its
liabilities as Cox/Equity Red Star did in 2002. Lloyd's is petrified that SVB's run-off would be the killer punch to the Central Fund. But with various run-off specialists and major banks circling the Lloyd's and London Market maybe a white knight will charge in and whisk away the nasty liabilities off its balance sheet. Whatever happens, looking at the share price in the past month, it can't happen soon enough
