Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett said on Wednesday that "we're not through with bank failures yet" following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in the United States. However, he said people "do not need to be panicked" about the state of the banking sector, adding that he would be "willing to bet" that depositors in the US will not lose their money if any other bank fails.
Buffett told CNBC that "people don't understand" that the costs related to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which stepped in to protect SVB deposits, are "borne by the banks" and have "never cost the federal government a dime." Buffett also criticized the US banking system for not adequately "connecting punishment to culprits," adding that flaws in the system will result in "periodic crises unnecessarily."