Buffett Offers Support If Banking System Gets Temporarily Stalled: 'Don't Think It Will … But It Could'

Had Silicon Valley Bank's deposit not been fully covered, the economic consequences would have been catastrophic, Warren Buffett said at Berkshire Hathaway's shareholder meeting on Saturday.

"That’s why they were covered and even though the FDIC limit is $250,000," he said, adding that the U.S. government and the American public have no interest in seeing a bank fail.

"So I think there’s some work to be done … it’s not a difficult problem — just we have screwed up the answer and screwed up the communication," Buffett said.

The “Oracle of Omaha” said he considers himself old-fashioned and preferred the time when banks weren’t engaged in investment banking. He also took aim at bankers.

"I don’t think having a bunch of bankers … trying to get rich leads to good things, but I think a banker should be more like an engineer," he said.

The billionaire investor argued that a banker should focus more on avoiding trouble than getting rich, adding that it would be a big mistake for everybody who joins the banking sector to plan on getting rich.

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Buffett also slammed what he considered to be poor messaging from politicians, government agencies and media on the banking system’s safety. Despite the fact that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has insured deposits, consumers still remain worried.

"That just shouldn’t happen. The messaging has been very poor,” Buffett said.

“It’s been poor by the politicians who sometimes have an interest in having it poor, it’s been poor by the agencies. And I’d say it’s been poor by the press,” he added.

While noting that Berkshire has about $128 billion in cash and U.S. Treasury bills, the billionaire said, "We want to be there if the banking system temporarily even gets stalled in some way. It shouldn't, I don't think it will, but I think it could."

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