The former bosses of two US banks that collapsed in March, sparking global fears over the state of the financial industry, say the failures were caused by "unprecedented" circumstances.

The remarks come in testimony prepared for a hearing in Washington on Tuesday.

Lawmakers are examining the episode amid debate over what should have been done to prevent it.

Former Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) chief Greg Becker is set to tell Congress he "never imagined" such events.

In his prepared remarks, he blames the bank's downfall on social media rumours and mixed messages about borrowing costs from the US central bank.

"I never imagined that these unprecedented events could happen to SVB and strongly believe that the leadership team and I made the best decisions we could with the facts, forecasts, and outside expert advice available to us at the time," he says.

1 hour ago, Social Media said:

In his prepared remarks, he blames the bank's downfall on social media rumours and mixed messages about borrowing costs from the US central bank.

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