Silicon Valley Bank Reviews

Cons

SVB is a great place to work and learn. However, the ability to maintain a durable competitive advantage across geographic markets is becoming a struggle. Competitors have taken advantage of delivering where SVB once did. The opportunity is to protect the prevailing brand with good behavior to existing and lost clients

Cons

Very political. Reviews are based on personality and less on your work. The c suite is out of touch. Upward feedback is filed away and rarely are management held accountable for their actions.

Cons

Culture changing for the worse
New executive leadership is trying to turning the company towards a big bank/Visa culture which doesn't match our client base
Shoot first, ask later mentality

Cons

- The awesome culture developed by the Board over the last three / four years has now completely evaporated across Global Services which is driven by leadership resulting in a hugely unhappy workforce across all levels.
- Hugely aggressive, policical and huge bully (increasing) culture common practice and encouraged across Global Services which sucks and is now almost accepted as normal / acceptable business practice.
- Core systems are poor.
- Career suicide to join SVB GS at present unless you have a background at Visa and a 'yes' man

Cons

The IT group was a professionally run unit up until 2013. Once the CEO's changed hands, the banking operations group was given the IT group with disastrous consequences that are still very evident to this day. The group lost/fired very competent senior leadership during the turn over and the IT group has essentially turned into order takers rather than being thought leaders. Culture has taken a devastating hit for the worst and is unlikely to recover. A real shame.

Cons

Little or no career growth. Outside hires are favored versus developing/retaining existing employees.
"Yes Man" are more valued by management than true deliverables or results.

Cons

Definitely having growing pains, but I believe the end goal is feasible and good

Cons

While few and far between, the cons are tied to the explosive growth of Balance Sheet Assets over the past 4-7 years:

- Approaching CCAR Hurdle of $50.0 Bn and the associated changes (while well planned for by management) are hammering certain teams with busy work as opposed allowing for continued focus on loan growth/product penetration and associated credit quality;
- Regional Markets are punished by the underwriting thesis i.e. if equity funding is light, SVB competes against many of the Middle Market Banks as ABL deals are a more vanilla approach;
- Poor Visibility into the path to promotions and would go so far as to say there were misrepresentations made at multiple points as to what it takes to move up a level.

Cons

Actual job that you were hired for / what they sold you is nowhere near reality.
Gross understaffing of key operations/support groups leads to being pulled into tasks / made to own business processes that you aren't skilled for, want no part of, and detract from your 'real' work.
IT/Core business systems are ridiculously outdated and should have been dealt with years ago.
Outright lied to about salary.

Cons

-Managers ar either incredible/outstanding or incompetent/lack experience to help improve the culture
-Everyone is overworked and underpaid
-cClient support managers are only out to protect each other. Our feedback and issues stop with them and they either dilute the message to the top level and HR or don't share it.