Bank stocks have come under pressure following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), but one financial expert is advising that now is an opportune time to put money into the sector. 
 
SVB, most commonly known for lending money to startup tech companies, experienced a sudden withdrawal of cash after investors worried about the bank’s equity. This fear would not be as prominent for clients and investors of larger banks who are known to be well capitalized, John Zechner, chairman and founder of J. Zechner Associates, said in a TV interview on Monday. 
 
“This is not as pervasive as the (2008-2009) housing downturn as you talk about that led to the great financial crisis and the major banks are well more capitalized than they were at that point in time,” he said. 
 
Zechner explains that the SVB situation has created a situation where only specific banks are at risk, whereas others stand to gain market share in the chaos. 
 
“The opportunity is in the banks that have stronger deposits basis, and Canadian banks fit in very well with that, the big U.S. players like JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America Corp. or Citigroup Inc. They’re probably in really good shape, (and if) their stocks get hit, I think there’s opportunities to get at it.”
 
He pointed to SVB’s collapse as a direct result of aggressive interest rate hikes. 
 
“They’ve (the U.S. Fed and the Bank of Canada) raised (rates) so fast, and so hard, that something had to break — and it did last week,” he said.