Silicon Valley Bank bought after the collapse

NEW YORK — North Carolina-based First Citizens will buy Silicon Valley Bank, a financial institution focused on the technology industry that collapsed earlier this month, rocking the banking industry and sending shockwaves around the world.

The deal could reassure investors at a time when confidence in banks has been shaken, though the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and other regulators have already took unusual steps to avert a wider banking crisis by ensuring that depositors at SVB and another failed US bank can access all their money.

Customers of SVB will automatically become customers of First Citizens, which is headquartered in Raleigh. The 17 former SVB branches will reopen Monday as First Citizens branches, the FDIC said.

European stocks opened higher On Monday, German lender Commerzbank AG rose 2.4% and BNP Paribas rose 1.2%.

Investors worry that other banks could also collapse under the pressure of higher interest rates. Deutsche Bank was in the spotlight on Friday, with German shares down 8.5%, although they were up about 3.6% in early trading on Monday. Earlier this month, shares and faith in Swiss bank Credit Suisse fell so much that regulators intervened takeover by rival UBS.

In the US, SVB, based in Santa Clara, California, collapsed on March 10 after depositors rushed to withdraw money amid fears for the bank’s health. It was the second largest bank failure in US history, after Washington Mutual in 2008. Two days later, New York’s Signature Bank was seized by regulators in the third-largest U.S. bank failure

In both cases, the government agreed to cover the contributionseven those that exceeded the federally insured limit of $250,000 so depositors could access their money.

New York Community Bank has agreed to acquire a significant portion of Signature Bank from a A $2.7 billion deal a week ago, but the search for a buyer on SVB took longer.

The sale, announced late Sunday, involves the sale of all deposits and loans of SVB First-Citizens Bank and Trust Co., the FDIC said.

The acquisition gives the FDIC $500 million in First Citizens stock. Both the FDIC and First Citizens will share in the losses and potential reimbursement of the loans included in the loss share agreement, the FDIC said.

First Citizens Bank was founded in 1898 and claims total assets in excess of $100 billion, with more than 500 branches in 21 states and a nationwide bank. It reported a net profit of $243 million in the last quarter. It ranks among the top 20 banks in the U.S. and says it is the largest family-owned bank in the country.