SALLIE'S OPINION

The Problem with Blaming SVB’s Collapse on “Diversity”

The banking-industry contagion that started with a run on Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month made the jump to Europe over the weekend. So much for the pundits’ view that Silicon Valley Bank was an idiosyncratic one-off. Financial wildfires like this one are almost never isolated events, given the interconnectedness of the banking business.

Through all of this, I’ve gotta be honest, I’m still SMH — and sort of laughing, but not really laughing — over that WSJ Op-Ed that implied that the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank was caused by wokeness and too much diversity. I guess the thinking behind that Op-Ed was: “Silicon Valley Bank is in California. By definition, it’s woke, amirite?”

Let me get this straight: The argument was that a bank that served the *venture capital industry* was too diverse??

A bank built on servicing an industry where women-founded start-ups get 2% of funding and Black founders get 1% and women of color get as-close-to-0%-as-you-can-get-without-it-actually-being-0%? Where some venture capitalists actually, literally describe their investment approach as “pattern recognition”?

No, the problem wasn’t that there was too much diversity at Silicon Valley Bank — it was the opposite.

What’s happening at Ellevest this week

• Workshop: Investing, Part I: How it Works: Wanna learn more about compounding, diversification, and other investing concepts? Get the lowdown in this 60-minute workshop. 📚

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Links to lead with

• Sallie joined CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning to discuss how this current moment compares to 2008 and more. Watch her here.
• New data suggests that women apply less often to jobs that pay $100,000 or more, but when they do, they get offered those jobs more often than men.
• One reason women may be behind in retirement savings, according to a recent survey from TIAA: worries about being able to afford child care.
• We’re thrilled to be partnering with non-profit Commonwealth on a research project designed to deepen our understanding of the barriers that keep people, particularly women of color, from building wealth through investing. Read more about the partnership here.
• On reeling your spending back in after a few years of pandemic-fueled “revenge spending.”