Nature of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature of Business

Nature of Business

SVB Financial Group is a diversified financial services company, as well as a bank holding company and a financial holding company. SVB Financial was incorporated in the state of Delaware in March 1999. Through our various subsidiaries and divisions, we offer a diverse set of banking and financial products and services to support our clients of all sizes and stages throughout their life cycles. In these notes to our consolidated financial statements, when we refer to “SVB Financial Group,” “SVBFG”, the “Company,” “we,” “our,” “us” or use similar words, we mean SVB Financial Group and all of its subsidiaries collectively, including Silicon Valley Bank (the “Bank”), unless the context requires otherwise. When we refer to “SVB Financial” or the “Parent” we are referring only to the parent company entity, SVB Financial Group (not including subsidiaries).

We offer commercial banking products and services through our principal subsidiary, the Bank, which is a California-chartered bank founded in 1983 and a member of the Federal Reserve System. Through its subsidiaries, the Bank also offers asset management, private wealth management and other investment services. In addition, through SVB Financial's other subsidiaries and divisions, we offer investment banking and non-banking products and services, such as funds management and M&A advisory services. We primarily focus on serving corporate clients in the following niches: technology, life science/healthcare, private equity/venture capital and premium wine. Our corporate clients range widely in terms of size and stage of maturity. Additionally, we focus on cultivating strong relationships with firms within the venture capital and private equity community worldwide, many of which are also our clients and may invest in our corporate clients.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, we operate in centers of innovation in the United States and around the world.

For reporting purposes, SVB Financial Group has four operating segments for which we report financial information in this report: Global Commercial Bank, SVB Private Bank, SVB Capital and SVB Leerink. Financial information, results of operations and a description of the services provided by our operating segments are set forth in Note 25—“Segment Reporting” of the “Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements” under Part II, Item 8 of this report.