Silicon Valley Bank history

The Palo Alto office opened in 1985.

In 1986, SVB merged with National InterCity Bancorp and opened an office in Santa Clara.

In 1988, the bank completed its IPO, raising $6 million.

In 1990, the bank opened its first office on the East Coast, near Boston.

In 1992, the bank was hit by the real estate burst (50% of the bank's assets) and recorded a $2.2 million yearly loss.

In 1993, the bank's founding CEO, Roger V. Smith, was replaced by John C. Dean; Smith became Vice Chairman of the bank.

Smith left in 1994 to launch the Smith Venture Group.

In 1997, SVB opened a branch in Atlanta.

In 1999, the company was reincorporated in Delaware.

In 2000, SVB opened a branch in Florida.

In 2001, SVB Securities acquired the Palo Alto investment banking firm Alliant Partners for $100 million.

Following the crash of the dot-com bubble, the bank's stock dropped 50%. In 2002, the bank began expanding its private banking business, which up to that point had been done primarily as a favor to wealthy venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

In 2004, the bank opened international subsidiaries in Bangalore, India, and London.

In 2005 it opened offices in Beijing and Israel.

In December 2008, SVB Financial received a $235 million investment from the United States Treasury through the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The United States Treasury received $10 million in dividends from Silicon Valley Bank and, in December 2009, the bank repurchased the outstanding stock and warrants held by the government, funding this through a stock sale of $300 million.

In November 2012, the bank announced a 50-50 joint venture with Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) to provide capital to start-up technology entrepreneurs.

The productivity of Silicon Valley Bank’s workers can be shown by the fact that in 2014 for every employee the bank had it generated about $130,000 of net income (SVB Financial Group) compared to Citibank’s about $30,000 of net income per employee (Citigroup Inc.).