Noor Nanji
Business reporter

Big shifts in the stock market are often in the news, and for good reason, as their performance can affect your life and finances.

Even if you don't invest money directly yourself, there are millions of people with a pension - either private or through work - who will see their savings invested by pension schemes. The value of their savings pot is influenced by the performance of these investments.

So big rises or falls in share prices can affect your pension, although pension savings are usually a long-term bet.

Anyone who has a pension pot invested and is taking an income from it will again see their investment go up and down with the stock markets.

That could mean getting less than you expected if you cash in too much after stock markets have fallen, making it important to plan how to make up any of this shortfall, experts say.

So "the markets" matter - maybe not as much as everyday wages, but for the future.

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

One start-up founder spent a nervous weekend continually refreshing the page on his SVB online banking app.

Around 40% of the company’s funds are stuck in the bank - but he hopes to get them out today.

He is - perhaps unsurprisingly - delighted by news his funds are safe.

“I spent the weekend talking to my new hires, trying to prevent a panic within the organisation, and on the phone with my VP of finance," he said.

"Everyone is a bit shaken up, but in the end, I don’t think any jobs will be lost, and it appears that taxpayers won’t have to cover the depositors, which seems like a fair resolution."

• Two banks collapsed over the weekend - Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. SVB had scrambled to raise money to plug a loss from the sale of assets affected by higher interest rates. Word of the troubles led customers to race to withdraw funds, leading to the crisis
• President Biden is trying to calm the waters - Americans should "rest assured that our banking system is safe", he said earlier. "We'll do whatever is needed." He also said he'd seek to hold those responsible to account
• And US regulators are working to restore confidence - They unveiled a new way to give banks access to emergency funds, making it easier for banks to borrow from it in a crisis
• The markets have reacted nervously - Shares in regional US banks tumbled. First Republic bank, which is based in San Francisco, plunged roughly 70% before trading was halted. In Europe, bank shares dropped sharply reflecting fears of wider instability

Noor Nanji
Business reporter

George Godber, fund manager at Polar Capital, says markets are falling because of "a fear of what else might lie out there".

"The imminent crisis may have been averted but it's alerted people to the fact that there's a group of companies out there with business models who will struggle in a high interest rate environment - as that's what's undone SVB," Mr Godber says.

He adds that the direct impact on the UK economy and UK market was limited "because the UK financial sector is really healthy and well capitalised".

Stock markets in Europe have fallen as investors remain spooked by the collapse of the the two US banks, despite efforts to limit the fallout.

Bank shares dropped sharply, with Commerzbank and Credit Suisse both down 10%, and Santander down 7%, reflecting fears over the health of the sector.

Stock markets in Frankfurt, Paris and Milan suffered sharp losses.

In London, the FTSE 100 index was down 2.3%, with shares falling even after HSBC agreed to buy SVB's UK arm.

US markets were flat, recovering after initially being dragged lower by banks.

President Joe Biden spoke earlier today in a bid to reassure Americans about the security of the banking sector. He said:

• Americans should be assured "our banking system is safe"
• The US will do "whatever is needed" to shore up banks
• Deposits at collapsed Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank have been guaranteed - Biden said people would be able to access their cash from today
• The president also called for tougher banking regulation

You can read more from his speech here.

Michelle Fleury
North America Business Correspondent in New York

Once again people are worried about banks. Once again there is intense debate about bailouts. But this isn't 2008.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the focus was on reforming banks considered "too big to fail". Today's problems are centred around medium and smaller sized banks.

Both of the banks that collapsed - Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank - had the same thing in common: their business models were too concentrated in one sector and they were over exposed to assets whose values came under pressure from rising interest rates.

The criticism is that they should have foreseen this and they didn't. US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is considered to be one of the most transparent heads in the history of the American central bank, going to great lengths to signal the Fed's intention to raise interest rates.

Since most banks are well diversified and have plenty of cash on hand to meet their obligations, the assumption is that the risk to the rest of the banking sector is low. That won't stop regulators looking into what went wrong and what rules need to change.

And the pressure on small and medium sized banks hasn't gone away. What happens to the US economy and the fight against inflation also remains to be seen.

We're covering the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank – the largest failure of a US bank since the financial crisis of 2008.

The US has moved to guarantee deposits at the bank, and also at New York-based Signature Bank which collapsed over the weekend as well.

The impact has already been far-reaching, with huge falls in the value of some banking stocks as markets assess the US response to the crisis.

Markets across Europe are also seeing sharp falls triggered by the turmoil.

Stick with us as we guide you through all the latest.