Silvergate Capital announces departures of CEO, CFO, legal chief

By Wallace Witkowski

Alan Lane, John Bonino are out; Antonio Martino to depart Sept. 30

Silvergate Capital Corp., as part of its plan to wind down operations and liquidate the assets of Silvergate Bank, announced departure plans for its chief executive and chief financial officer in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday.

Silvergate Capital (SICP) said Alan Lane, CEO of both the holding company and the bank, and John Bonino, chief legal officer of the company and the bank, no longer held those positions effective Tuesday. Effective Sept. 30, Antonio Martino, CFO of both the company and bank, will depart from those positions, Silvergate said.

In the filing, the company said the executives will "no longer be entitled to any further compensation under each of their respective employment agreements, but each will receive certain severance benefits provided to bank employees being discharged in the course of the bank liquidation."

Silvergate said Kathleen Fraher, chief transition officer of the company and the bank, now serves as the company's principal executive officer, while Andrew Surry, chief accounting officer of the bank, will serve as the company's principal financial officer when Martino leaves.

Shares of Silvergate were unchanged after hours, following a 35% rise to close Tuesday at 30 cents a share. Year to date, Silvergate shares have shed 98%, and had once closed as high as $222.13 back on Nov. 3, 2021, according to FactSet data.

In March, Silvergate was forced to wind down operations of cryptocurrency-friendly Silvergate Bank. That occurred a few days before the failure of Silicon Valley Bank on March 10. Crypto-friendly Signature Bank failed on March 12, and was acquired by New York Community Bancorp(NYCB) in May.

Prior to the announced wind-down plans in March, ongoing concern over Silvergate's ability to stay afloat had triggered selloffs of bitcoin and ether , following announcements from Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN) and other crypto exchanges that they would halt transactions with Silvergate

-Wallace Witkowski

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08-15-23 1912ET

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