HSBC shares have been hit by the decision of Europe’s largest bank to purchase the collapsed lender’s UK arm, favoured by tech companies and start-ups, for just £1.

Bank stocks have plunged sharply across the US and Europe again, despite the US president’s assurance that the system “is safe” in the wake of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

News that the US government had effectively taken control of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), and that its UK arm had been sold to HSBC, failed to stem worries when the markets opened for business on Monday.

They focus on the extent to which certain, smaller, lenders have been damaged by US central bank moves against inflation through aggressive interest rate hikes – souring their bond holdings in the process because most were bought at rock bottom prices.

Short-dated US government bond yields rallied as speculation grew that the Fed would have to support the sector by cancelling its expected interest rate hike next week.

Banking shares were further pressured as yields (the premium demanded to hold US Treasuries) rose but the dollar fell sharply as rate rise expectations faltered.

The FTSE 100 index of the most valuable companies listed on the London Stock Exchange was down 2%. It hit 7,553 on Monday morning – a low not seen since the early days of 2023 and down from 7,883 on Thursday afternoon.

Major UK banks had not yet recovered from the experience of the shock on Friday evening and also continued to fall.

Bank stocks globally took a big hit on Friday as financial markets were spooked and the impact continues to be seen.

NatWest shares stood at 284.1p on Monday morning, down from 292.9p at the close of trading on Thursday.

Lloyds stock fell to 48.3p a share from 51.46p before the SVB news hit on Thursday afternoon.

Similarly, Barclays shares fell to 155.16p, down from 163.42 compared to four days previous.

There has been no benefit, so far, for HSBC shareholders from its latest acquisition of the £8.8bn balance sheet lender for just £1.

HSBC shares fell along with the other major UK banks to 568.8p per share, down from 622.2p on late Thursday afternoon.

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Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown said: “HSBC shareholders may have some concerns about the bank snapping up assets which have been under such a cloud of uncertainty, particularly the exposure to bonds, but HSBC says it expects a gain to arise from the acquisition.”

Customers of SVB UK number more than 3,000 and include businesses like Moonpig and Notonethehighstreet.

But a flurry of companies scrambled to distance themselves from SVB UK and reassure investors they are unaffected.

In the US the market reaction to the wider collapse of SVB has also so far been negative.

Two year US government bonds – which act as state IOUs – had their biggest one day drop since 1987 on Monday.

President Biden attempted to calm fears by saying SVB depositors have access to their money today and no losses will be borne by the taxpayer.

Banks will instead rely on the deposit insurance fund, paid for by fees paid by banks, he said.

There are important questions to answer as to how the crisis unfolded, Mr Biden added, and he is working on strengthening bank regulation.

New York-based Signature Bank was also closed by regulators on Sunday with more than $110bn (£90.8bn) in assets – the third-largest bank failure in US history.

Regional bank First Republic saw its shares tumble 66.9% after US markets opened, even after it said on Sunday its finances were strengthened with cash from the US central bank, Federal Reserve, and financial services company, JPMorgan Chase.

It is now expected the Fed will pause its programme of rate rises as soaring interest rates were one of the factors that tipped the SVB balance sheet into the red.