As custodians of your retail and corporate deposits, our number-one job every day is ensuring the financial safety and soundness of our bank. Trust is everything in our business, and we never forget our promise to keep earning yours by managing our bank in a prudent manner.

The closure of California’s Silicon Valley Bank and New York’s Signature Bank by banking regulators has generated considerable media coverage and speculation about the fundamental strength of the U.S. banking industry. Like all banks, we’re closely following developments at these banks and the proactive moves taken by federal banking regulators to protect deposit accounts at these institutions.

While it likely will take time to understand all the factors that led to the failure of these two banks, it’s clear their unique business models – which relied heavily on serving and supporting start-up companies, venture capital firms and cryptocurrency industry participants that have been hard-hit by recent economic trends – was a major factor.

TIAA Bank has a significantly different and more traditional business model. Our approach employs effective risk strategies that reduce interest-rate risk in our portfolio and does not expose us or our clients’ deposits to the kinds of economic and market risks, including those associated with potentially volatile sectors such as technology start-ups, venture capital funds and cryptocurrencies.

Our capital and liquidity reserves are strong and exceed all required levels set by banking regulators. TIAA Bank also benefits from being a privately held subsidiary of TIAA, one of only three insurance groups in the U.S. that hold the highest-possible rating from three of the four leading insurance company rating agencies for its stability, claims-paying ability and overall financial strength.

TIAA Bank has a decades-long record of consistent profitability, built on a strong capital base and conservative approach to risk-management. The safety and soundness of TIAA Bank and TIAA remains strong, even in turbulent economic times.

Our deposit base also remains strong and stable. TIAA Bank’s Yield Pledge guarantees yields on many of our deposit products, which are among the top 5% of Competitive Accounts offered by other financial institutions nationwide, with no or low monthly account fees. In addition to the inherent financial strength and soundness of our bank balance sheet, a significant percentage of TIAA Bank’s deposit balances qualify to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

We know that continuing to earn your trust requires us to stay true to the principles that have always guided our bank: service, reliability, financial strength and an unwavering commitment to safeguard our bank’s soundness.

All of us at TIAA Bank thank you for your trust in us and for choosing us as your bank.