09:04 AM EDT, 07/10/2024 (MT Newswires) -- HSBC Holdings ( HSBC ) won the dismissal of several claims brought by First Citizens Bank & Trust over the hiring of over 40 former Silicon Valley Bank employees following that lender's collapse last year.

First Citizens alleged in the lawsuit that an SVB executive who joined HSBC ( HSBC ) organized a scheme to poach former SVB employees from First Citizens after First Citizens purchased the assets of the collapsed bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The complaint alleged that in so doing, HSBC ( HSBC ) could procure SVB's confidential, proprietary, and trade-secret information to First Citizens' financial detriment, the complaint alleges.

"The jurisdictional allegations might be able to be firmed up against [HSBC ( HSBC ) unit] HBUK (but probably not against HSBC Holdings ( HSBC ) and [HSBC ( HSBC ) unit] HUSI)," US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said in her ruling.

"Maybe discovery will support claims for a nefarious scheme to poach trade secrets and steal a business model, but right now, the allegations against most defendants show only a failed bank and employees decamping to a better business opportunity."