WASHINGTON (March 23): The US Senate Banking Committee on Thursday (March 23) called on the former chief executives of Silicon Vally Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank to testify as lawmakers weigh possible action after the banks' failures triggered market turmoil.

"You must answer for the bank's downfall," the panel's Democratic chairman and ranking Republican wrote in separate letters to former Silicon Valley Bank chief executive Gregory Becker and former Signature Bank CEO Joseph DePaolo.

Senator Sherrod Brown, the panel's Democratic chairman, and Senator Tim Scott, its top Republican, asked the former bank chiefs to testify at the hearing Tuesday with federal regulators or at a future date.

Representatives for Becker and DePaolo as well as the banks could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Senate panel on Monday announced the first in a series of hearings following the banks' collapse. The US House of Representatives financial Services Committee is scheduled to hold a separate hearing March 29.