Why high-shine Silicon Valley Bank is willing to pay nearly $1 billion for lackluster Boston Private's $13.3 billion of AUM

Interesting to see. From my perch, no one out here talks about SVB anymore...they've simply lost relevance in what were their core businesses of years past (technology banking/lending, transaction advisory). The $1B in in-house AUM is simply woeful for a bank trying to compete in the personal financial advisory space. I'd have to guess that SVB needed an acquisition of this size just to get to breakeven at the business unit level. My hunch (and only that) is that the combined entity continues to bleed assets over the years ahead and that eventually SVB itself will become a "tuck-in" acquisition by a far larger player (but probably at lower prices). Good luck with all that, - they'd be better served trying to re-invigorate the tired old brand they've become in banking services. Much like Intel, there are things they could've been a real contender in (SPAC advisory for one) that seem to have just slipped through their hands. C'est la vie.

Brian your comments from 2021 were prescient. Per the last quarter, SVB, has had a steady loss of net new money. They couldn’t stop talking about the “great tech” that Boston Private had (clearly not true) and all the “customer synergy’s” so they set big annual growth goals. Now you have to really look hard to find the information in the quarterly report ( Q3 out shortly).

Unfortunate, but not unforeseen, I suppose. Stupid is as stupid does. The main problem w/ SVB is they are adrift with no real ability to set a course and go after it fully (ie. management issues). They have become an afterthought in the entirety of the financial services industry. I've never once heard of them referred to as an "asset manager" and Boston Private (while still running under their own brand) has never been anything special in the 20+ years I've known of them. This is what you get when you mix two mediocre players - a whole bunch of nothing.

...and it's gone.