In Re: SVB Fin. Grp.

Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided September 9, 2026·No. 25-567·Published

Opinion

25-567-bk In Re: SVB Fin. Grp.

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

August Term, 2025

(Argued: January 26, 2026 Decided: September 9, 2026)

Docket No. 25-567-bk

IN RE: SVB FINANCIAL GROUP,

Debtor.

SVB FINANCIAL TRUST,

Debtor-Appellant,

OFFICIAL COMMITTEE OF UNSECURED CREDITORS, Creditor,

v.

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION, AS RECEIVER FOR SILICON VALLEY BANK AND SILICON VALLEY BRIDGE BANK, N.A.,

Appellee.

Before:

LOHIER, Chief Judge, CHIN and MENASHI, Circuit Judges.

When SVB Financial Group (“SVB Financial”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York, its reorganization plan proposed to extinguish the defensive setoff rights that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) asserted in SVB Financial’s separate federal lawsuit against the FDIC in the Northern District of California. According to the reorganization plan, the FDIC forfeited its right to assert a defensive setoff by failing to file a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding. The FDIC objected to the plan, and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Glenn, B.J.) sustained the FDIC’s objection. Chief Judge Glenn concluded that the FDIC’s defensive setoff rights are not “claims” that require the filing of a proof of claim. See 11 U.S.C. § 101(5)(A). On direct appeal, we hold that the FDIC was not required to file a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding to preserve its defensive setoff rights in the California proceeding. The FDIC’s defensive setoff rights, which are here asserted under California law, are not claims within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code. AFFIRMED.

GREGORY G. GARRE (Eric J. Konopka, Christina R. Gay, Timothy J. Borgerson, on the brief), Latham & Watkins LLP, Washington, DC, for Debtor-Appellant.

MICHELLE OGNIBENE, Counsel (Dominic A. Arni, Assistant General Counsel, J. Scott Watson, Senior Counsel, on the brief), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Arlington, VA, for Appellee.

LOHIER, Chief Judge:

The creditor of a debtor in bankruptcy typically files a proof of claim to participate in the distribution of the estate. See 11 U.S.C. § 501; Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3003(c)(2). With some exceptions not relevant to this appeal, “[a] creditor who

fails to do so will not be treated as a creditor for that claim for . . . distribution.” Fed. R. Bankr. P. 3003(c)(2). The requirement that a creditor file a proof of claim applies to a “claim,” which, as relevant here, the Bankruptcy Code defines simply as a “right to payment.” 11 U.S.C. § 101(5)(A). “The right of setoff . . . allows entities that owe each other money to apply their mutual debts against each other, thereby avoiding the absurdity of making A pay B when B owes A.” Citizens Bank of Md. v. Strumpf, 516 U.S. 16, 18 (1995) (quotation marks omitted). A creditor’s right of setoff may exist as an affirmative defense under state law to extinguish or reduce the creditor’s potential obligation to the debtor in a separate proceeding commenced by the debtor against the creditor, or it may serve as a type of counterclaim under state law that permits affirmative recovery. See Arch Ins. Co. v. Precision Stone, Inc., 584 F.3d 33, 41–42 (2d Cir. 2009). 1 The question presented is whether a purely defensive right of setoff is a “claim”

1 See also Mary Kay Kane and Howard M. Erichson, 6 Fed. Prac. & Proc. Civ. § 1401 (3d ed.) (discussing the history of setoff and recoupment and explaining that, at common law, “setoff permitted defendant to assert an affirmative claim for relief”). Contrast Glenda K. Harnad, 20 Am. Jur. 2d Counterclaim, Recoupment, Etc. § 6 (“Although setoff may be used to offset a plaintiff’s claim, it may not be used to recover affirmatively.”), with 3 J. Story & W.H. Lyon, Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence as Administered in England and America § 1870 (14th ed. 1918) (“Set-off is a counter demand which the defendant has against the plaintiff . . . . If the set-off allowed be more than the allowable claim of the plaintiff, judgment for the excess may, in the action, be awarded to the defendant against the plaintiff.”).

under 11 U.S.C. § 101(5)(A). If the answer is no, then the creditor’s failure to file a proof of claim does not result in forfeiture of the defensive setoff right or preclude the creditor from effectuating the setoff in the future.

When SVB Financial Group (“SVB Financial”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023 in the wake of the spectacular collapse of its subsidiary, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”), its reorganization plan proposed to extinguish the defensive setoff rights asserted under California law by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) in SVB Financial’s separate proceeding against the FDIC in the Northern District of California. SVB Financial maintains that the FDIC forfeited its right to assert a defensive setoff by failing to file a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding. The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Glenn, B.J.) sustained the FDIC’s objection to the reorganization plan. Chief Judge Glenn determined, among other things, that the FDIC’s defensive setoff rights are not “claims” that require the filing of a proof of claim in the bankruptcy proceeding. As explained below, we agree that the FDIC was not required to file a proof of claim to preserve its defensive setoff rights. AFFIRMED.

I

In March 2023 SVB found itself squeezed by rising interest rates and steep losses in the value of its investments. On March 10, after a run on the bank by panicked depositors, SVB collapsed. Its failure prompted the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to appoint the FDIC as SVB’s receiver. Worried that SVB’s demise would spur further panic that would spread to other banks, then-Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen invoked the “[s]ystemic risk” exception, see 12 U.S.C. § 1823(c)(4)(G), which authorized the FDIC to guarantee SVB’s uninsured deposits in full. One day later, on March 13, 2023, the FDIC created Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A. (“Bridge Bank”), transferred nearly all of SVB’s assets and liabilities to the Bridge Bank, and informed depositors that they would be able to withdraw their funds as early as that same day.

SVB’s parent company, SVB Financial (now SVB Financial Trust 2), had more than $2 billion in deposits with SVB before the March 10 collapse. In response to the FDIC’s guarantee to depositors, SVB Financial initially withdrew

2Pursuant to § 5.5 of the Second Amended Plan of Reorganization, SVB Financial Trust was substituted for SVB Financial Group in all pending litigation, including this appeal, after the Plan became effective. We refer to SVB Financial Trust and SVB Financial Group interchangeably as “SVB Financial.”

over $150 million from the Bridge Bank on March 15 and 16, 2023. The FDIC soon stopped SVB Financial from withdrawing additional funds, however, until the FDIC could determine whether SVB’s deposit liabilities were subject to setoff against any debt SVB Financial owed to the FDIC (as SVB’s receiver) for mismanaging SVB.

On March 17, 2023, SVB Financial filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. The Bankruptcy Court entered an order (“Bar Date Order”) establishing a deadline for governmental units, including the FDIC, “assert[ing] a claim, as defined in [§] 101(5) of the Bankruptcy Code,” to file proofs of claim. App’x 120. The Bar Date Order provided as follows:

[A]ll holders of claims that fail to comply with this Order by timely filing a proof of claim . . . shall be forever barred, estopped[,] and enjoined from asserting the applicable claim . . . against the Debtor or property of the estate and shall not be treated as a creditor with respect to such claim for purposes of voting on or distribution under any plan of reorganization filed in this chapter 11 case.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

In Re: SVB Fin. Grp., (2d Cir. 2026).

In Re: SVB Fin. Grp. (In Re: SVB Fin. Grp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Arch Insurance v. Precision Stone, Inc.
584 F.3d 33 (Second Circuit, 2009)
Johnson v. Home State Bank
501 U.S. 78 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Citizens Bank of Md. v. Strumpf
516 U.S. 16 (Supreme Court, 1995)
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. Oneida Ltd.
562 F.3d 154 (Second Circuit, 2009)
City of Stockton v. Superior Court
171 P.3d 20 (California Supreme Court, 2007)
Midland Funding, LLC v. Johnson
581 U.S. 224 (Supreme Court, 2017)
Construction Protective Services, Inc. v. Tig Specialty Insurance
57 P.3d 372 (California Supreme Court, 2002)