Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is belly up and leaving account holders out to dry, but at least they expressed their commitment to excessively woke protocols. In the aftermath of its collapse, the institution’s brazenly leftist policies are out in the open.
The list of woke initiatives for the failed bank is impressive.
As part of its “diversity, equity, and inclusion” goals, the company reported it would pursue several benchmarks by 2025. One was to “increase women in senior leadership roles globally” to 43%.
Another would “increase Black/African American representation in U.S. senior leadership roles to 5%.” Still, another vowed to “increase Hispanic/Latinx representation in U.S. senior leadership roles to 6%.”
Behold the Head of Financial Risk Management at the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank.
Go woke, go broke. pic.twitter.com/3yGrzvGYRn— David Kurten (@davidkurten) March 12, 2023
SVB pledged to adjust its procurement based on the ethnic, racial, and gender makeup of suppliers’ owners and staffers. “Diverse” suppliers were to constitute 8% of the company’s “total cumulative spend” by 2025.
In its 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) report, the bank defined “underrepresented individuals” as covering “women, Black, and Latinx individuals.”
The head of financial risk at SVB’s UK branch, Jay Ersapah, spearheaded programs such as the bank’s first month-long Pride campaign and a blog targeting mental health awareness for LGBT youth.
As she said on the company website, she is a “queer person of color and first-generation immigrant from a working-class background” who did not see many role models growing up. Ersapah was also instrumental in SVB’s “safe space catch-up,” which encouraged coming out stories being shared.
The bank was shuttered Friday by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation after it revealed it had taken a $1.8 billion hit from sales of bond holdings.
There was also a cash crunch, and shares in parent company SVB Financial plunged 60% on Thursday before cratering another 60% in Friday’s premarket trading. Then it closed down.
A noteworthy observation came Saturday from Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus. He commented that the bank’s collapse may be attributed to woke policies pursued by company officials such as Ersapah.
Marcus said it was discouraging to learn that bank officials sold their shares before the collapse commenced. But does he believe the Biden Justice Department will investigate? “They’re a woke company, so I guess not.”
