San Francisco, May 25 (IANS): First Citizens BancShares Inc, the new owner of the US-based Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which collapsed in March, has laid off about 500 SVB employees.

According to an email sent to all employees by First Citizens CEO Frank Holding, the job cuts did not include any client-facing positions or any members of the company's support team in India, reports The San Francisco Standard.

Moreover, a message from Holding to the company employees said, "It is increasingly clear that we must make decisions to right-size our scope and scale to remain competitive".

Workers who were laid off were informed in meetings with human resources staff that they would remain employed by the bank until June 9, with further details regarding severance followed by email.

According to one director-level employee, more layoffs are possible.

Further, the report mentioned that following the acquisition, SVB employees complained about a cultural clash as the First Citizens Bank took over what had been a leading financial player for decades.

The Silicon Valley Bank became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis.

It was among the top 20 American commercial banks, with $209 billion in total assets at the end of last year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

The sudden collapse of the bank sent the markets tumbling and left billions of dollars in the hands of investors and companies.