MTC Show - Bank Runs, Self-Driving Cars, and AI Chat to Go for a Ride

Plus 7 other mobility tech and connectivity news developments and headlines

Mar 22, 2023

Over the last two weeks since our previous show, Silicon Valley Bank stole the headlines with its bank run on March 8 and ensuing takeover by the Fed after announcing a $1.75bn capital raising. The need for cash was reported to be to cover losses with bond investments, estimated to be in the area of $21bn. Analysts say the losses were a direct result of historically rising interest rates by the Fed.

SVB was not the only bank in need of help. Swiss bank Credit Suisse was forced to raise capital shortly after the SVB collapse, and now is reported to be getting acquired by UBS (for only US $3.3bn). The news was announced on March 19 at a press conference in Bern, Switzlerland, with the transaction aimed at preventing a banking crisis.

But before that occurred, on March 13, another bank was forced to shut down - Signature Bank. Customers spooked by the sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank withdrew more than $10 billion in deposits, which quickly led to the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Regulators announced less than a week later that Signature was being taken over to protect its depositors and the stability of the U.S. financial system.

The MTC Show is not a financial show, but we do keep a pulse on polarizing market events and conditions and would be remiss if we did not highlight these occurrences. But there are also a couple aspects to these collapses that fit right into what we do here on AutoConverse.

For one, there has been broad speculation, mostly from camps with political interest and ideology, that the SVB collapse stemmed from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) investments and “woke” capitalism. We will address that on the show.

And with the Signature Bank collapse, many speculate the bank’s fate was due to investments in cryptocurrencies. Bank board member and former congressman Barney Frank was quoted as saying, “I think part of what happened was that regulators wanted to send a very strong anti-crypto message.”

This week on the show, we will get into these speculations a bit and run some questions by our AI chat bot like we have been the last few shows. We also have mobility tech and connectivity news and headlines to bring you.

The MTC Show

Airs live on Wednesday March 22 at Noon Central (US & Canada)

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About the Show

The MTC Show is a live stream recording session for the AutoConverse Podcast. It is typically held every other Wednesday at Noon Central. We cover a thoughtful selection of stories and developments and current events with light commentary.

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