HSBC got here to the rescue of Silicon Valley Financial institution UK in an important deal for the entire banking sector. However for those who had advised its CEO — only a few days beforehand — that this could be taking place, he wouldn’t have believed you.

“I used to be going about my regular enterprise on Friday. If someone had mentioned to me [that] we’d be buying one other financial institution inside two or three days, I would not have believed it,” Ian Stuart, CEO of HSBC UK Financial institution, advised CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe” Thursday.

It was all very fast. Silicon Valley Financial institution — a U.S. lender with shoppers principally within the tech and health-care startup world — was deemed bancrupt by American regulators on Friday. That raised alarm bells throughout the pond, the place SVB had a subsidiary.

Consequently, the Financial institution of England introduced Friday that, “absent any significant additional info,” it could be putting Silicon Valley Financial institution UK into an insolvency process. 

“Wakened on Saturday morning, noticed the announcement and by simply after 10:30 a.m. we had been in contact with the regulator providing our assist, myself and our international CEO Noel Quinn each involved. And it went slightly bit quiet, I believe at that time we had been simply attempting to supply any help we may,” Stuart mentioned.

Greater than 200 corporations — depositors with SVB UK — wrote Saturday to the U.Ok.’s Treasury asking for assist. They mentioned that some wouldn’t be capable to adjust to payroll deadlines with out accessing their deposits with SVB UK.

“We bought entry to the info financial institution early on Sunday. We had about 5 hours to do due diligence and by about 6pm on Sunday — and we had numerous conferences all through the day — so far as we had been involved it was a aggressive scenario, and I can truthfully inform that even as much as about 10, 11 p.m. at evening, I nonetheless thought it was a aggressive scenario and round about that point, we had been in actually shut dialogue with the regulator.”

Different monetary establishments had been additionally within the combine and assessing the opportunity of shopping for SVB UK, together with OakNorth Financial institution, The Financial institution of London and Abu Dhabi funding agency Royal Group.

“It wasn’t till … early hours of Monday morning that we thought, ‘proper, I believe now we have bought a financial institution,’ and we began getting ready comms at that time,” Stuart mentioned.

HSBC UK introduced at 7 a.m. London time Monday that it was shopping for Silicon Valley Financial institution UK for £1 ($1.21). The deal protected £6.7 billion in deposits.

“We’ve a U.Ok. financial institution that is properly run, excellent individuals, good high quality merchandise and, sure, 5 hours is not loads of time to do due diligence, however what we determined was, ‘Are there any black holes? No, not that we may see,'” Stuart mentioned.

“Was it value — your phrases, not mine — of venture. We thought it was a smart method, we did not ask for presidency help, we did not ask for something out of the peculiar,” he mentioned, including that the deal will assist HSBC speed up its strategic plan by two or three years.

“It is a great alternative,” he mentioned.