The Biden administration has announced that customers of Silicon Valley Bank will have full access to their deposits, an extraordinary move by federal officials to backstop billions of dollars in uninsured money amid fears that the bank's collapse could lead to greater panic.

Federal regulators said Sunday that they were taking the emergency measures to prevent contagion at other small and regional banks in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's sudden implosion.

In the United Kingdom, meanwhile, the British Treasury and the Bank of England announced early Monday that they had facilitated the sale of Silicon Valley Bank UK to HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, The Associated Press reported. The move ensured the security of an estimated $8.1 billion of deposits. British officials worked throughout the weekend to find a buyer for the UK subsidiary of the California-based bank. Its collapse was the second-largest bank failure in history.

The U.S. rescue plan involves tapping a deep reserve of bank-funded federal insurance money, not taxpayer dollars, according to officials.

The regulators said customers of Silicon Valley Bank will be able to access all of their money starting Monday.

Deposits at Signature Bank, which was shut by New York regulators on Sunday, would also be backstopped.

The closure of Signature represents the third U.S. bank to topple in just one week, after California-based Silvergate, a top lender in the crypto market, decided to wind down its operations and pay back depositors.