Summary of Ownership Interests in Investments Held Under Fair Value Accounting (Detail) (Fair value accounting)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012		Dec. 31, 2011
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | SVB Strategic Investors Fund, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	12.60%	[1]	12.60%
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | SVB Strategic Investors Fund II, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	8.60%	[1]	8.60%
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | SVB Strategic Investors Fund III, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	5.90%	[1]	5.90%
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | SVB Strategic Investors Fund IV, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	5.00%	[1]	5.00%
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | SVB Capital Preferred Return Fund, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	20.00%	[1]	20.00%
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | SVB Capital-NT Growth Partners, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	33.00%	[1]	33.00%
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | Other private equity fund
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	58.20%	[2]	58.20%	[2]
Venture capital and private equity fund investments | SVB Capital Partners II, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	5.10%	[3]	5.10%	[3]
Other venture capital investments | Silicon Valley BancVentures, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	10.70%	[1]	10.70%
Other venture capital investments | SVB Capital Partners II, LP
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	5.10%	[1]	5.10%	[4]
Other venture capital investments | SVB Capital Shanghai Yangpu Venture Capital Fund
Schedule of Investments [Line Items]
Percentage of ownership	6.80%	[1]	6.80%

[1] The general partners of these funds are owned and controlled by SVB Financial. The limited partners of these funds do not have substantive participating or kick-out rights. Therefore, these funds are consolidated and any gains or losses resulting from changes in the estimated fair value of the investments are recorded as investment gains or losses in our consolidated net income.

[2] At December 31, 2012, we had a direct ownership interest of 41.5 percent and indirect ownership interests of 12.6 percent and 4.1 percent in the fund through our ownership interest of SVB Capital—NT Growth Partners, LP and SVB Capital Preferred Return Fund, LP, respectively

[3] At December 31, 2012, we had a direct ownership interest of 1.3 percent and an indirect ownership interest of 3.8 percent in the fund through our ownership interest of SVB Strategic Investors Fund II, LP.

[4] At December 31, 2012, we had a direct ownership interest of 1.3 percent and an indirect ownership interest of 3.8 percent in the fund through our ownership of SVB Strategic Investors Fund II, LP.