First Citizens Sues HSBC for Stealing SVB Staff, Secrets (2)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. sued HSBC Holdings Plc for allegedly raiding dozens of employees from Silicon Valley Bank in a scheme dubbed “Project Colony” as First Citizens was taking over the failed California lender.

Two weeks after First Citizens acquired SVB on March 27, HSBC poached 42 bankers on Easter Sunday and brazenly took and misused SVB’s confidential, proprietary and trade secret information, according to a complaint filed Monday in federal court in northern California.

David Sabow, who worked in a health-care and technology banking practice at SVB before jumping to HSBC, is identified in the complaint ...