New York City employees, including teachers, cops and firefighters, lost nearly $30 million in pension funds tied to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
Critics accuse Comptroller Brad Lander, who is custodian of the pension systems, of favoring the “woke” bank over shareholders.
Five city pension funds had a total of $41,867,214 invested in the doomed bank as of Jan. 31, according to data provided by the comptroller’s office under a Freedom of Information request by The Post.
The comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management oversees the investment portfolios.
Among the largest funds left holding the bag were the Teachers Retirement System, which plunked at least $15,804,413 into SVB; the New York City Employees’ Retirement System ($12,930,936), and the Police Pension Fund, ($8,967,580).
The money wound up as unsecured corporate bonds that were not saved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation bailout, which rescued other depositors.
Third-party asset managers sold almost all of the invested sums between Jan. 31 and May 1, salvaging about $14 million — but $27.9 million was lost, Lander’s office confirmed.
Former SEC attorney and pension forensics investigator Edward Siedle cautioned that Lander might have lowballed the losses. Siedle noted that the comptroller valued the SVB shares as of Jan. 31, when the SVB price-per-share was $302.44, That was less than half the bank’s price on Oct. 26, 2021, $745.32.
“The amount of the losses could easily be double, or even more,” Siedle told The Post.
“NYC taxpayers and pension participants should not believe a word of what they are being told. We don’t know how much the pension invested in SVB, directly, or indirectly through external managers, or at what price.”
Hedge funds, private equity and real estate firms with contracts to manage city pension funds are not required to disclose their investments.
Comptroller officials said Jan. 31 was “the last audited date,” adding, “We do not disclose our third-party asset managers’ transactions or trading history.”
Lander’s office called the losses “limited.”
“Overall, the losses incurred on the day of SVB’s collapse represent a tiny percent of systems’ daily gains and losses stemming from normal market movements,” said spokeswoman Chloe Chik.
Silicon Valley Bank — a favorite of woke tech bros and their acolytes — famously went bust in March, setting off a chain of bank failures that have consumed First Republic and Signature Bank.
SVB and Lander are both proponents of Environmental, Social, and Governance investing which seeks to make investments in companies that support progressive political causes — and not exclusively focus on investor return.
In January 2022, the bank promised “at least $5 billion” in financing for sustainability efforts by 2027.
In September 2022, Lander signed a letter opposing states looking to curb ESG investing and has vowed to make the city’s $240 billion retirement funds entirely green (and anti-fossil fuel) by 2040.
Eight of the 10 biggest ESG funds underperformed in the S&P 500 average last year.
“This is exhibit A of what happens when you’re distracted by environmental social and governance scores rather than looking into the actual merits of an investment,” said Vivek Ramaswamy, an asset manager and GOP presidential candidate. “This is just a prime example of how everyday citizens are left holding the bag, subsidizing an agenda that they may or may not agree with.”
