As the countdown to the reopening of futures trading gets louder by the second amid episodic observations of bank runs around the US, news flow is starting to accelerate fast so this will be a placeholder post with updates until we get major news.

1:15pm Update: In a throwback to the legendary "Lehman Sunday", when dozens of credit traders did an ad hoc CDS trading and novation session on the Sunday ahead of the bank’s Chapter 11 filing to minimize the chaos and fallout from the coming bankruptcy, Bloomberg reports that the FDIC kicked off an auction process late Saturday for Silicon Valley Bank, with final bids due by Sunday afternoon.

The FDIC is reportedly aiming for "a swift deal" but a winner may not be known until late Sunday.  Bloomberg also reported that the regulator is racing to sell assets and make a portion of clients’ uninsured deposits available as soon as Monday; the open questions are i) whether there will be a haircut and ii) how big it will be. A table from JPM’s Michael Cemablest below shows historical haircuts on uninsured depositors in previous bank crises.

We get a slightly more positive vibe from a Reuters report according to which "authorities are preparing "material action" on Sunday to shore up deposits in Silicon Valley Bank and stem any broader financial fallout from its sudden collapse."

Details of the announcement expected on Sunday were not immediately available. One source said the Federal Reserve had acted to keep banks operating during the COVID-19 pandemic, and could take similar action now.

"This will be a material action, not just words," one source said. Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she was working with banking regulators to respond after SVB became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis.

As fears deepened of a broader fallout across the U.S. regional banking sector and beyond, Yellen said she was working to protect depositors but ruled out a bailout.

"We want to make sure that the troubles that exist at one bank don’t create contagion to others that are sound," Yellen told the CBS News Sunday Morning show. "During the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out … and the reforms that have been put in place means we are not going to do that again," Yellen added.

Meanwhile, more than 3,500 CEOs and founders representing some 220,000 workers signed a petition started by Y Combinator appealing directly to Yellen and others to backstop depositors, warning that more than 100,000 jobs could be at risk.

Reuters also reports that the FDIC was trying to find another bank willing to merge with SVB:

"Some industry executives said such a deal would be sizeable for any bank and would likely require regulators to give special guarantees and make other allowances."

That said, the longer we wait without some resolution the more likely it is that SVB’s unsecured depositors will get pennies on the dollar, according to the following (unconfirmed) reporting from Chalie Gasparino: "Bankers increasingly pessimistic a single buyer will emerge for SVB, laying out options for clients w money in there: 1-ride it out. 2-sell deposits for around 70-80 cents on dollar to other financial players; borrow against deposits jpmorgan at 50 cents on dollar."

The FDIC previously said the agency has said it will make 100% of protected deposits available on Monday, when Silicon Valley Bank branches reopen.

There was also news for those whose money remains frozen at SIVB. BBG notes that tech lender Liquidity Group is planning to offer about $3 billion in emergency loans to start-up clients hit by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Liquidity has about $1.2 billion ready in cash to make available in the coming weeks, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Ron Daniel said in an interview on Sunday. The group is also in discussions with its funding partners, including Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Apollo Global Management Inc., to offer an additional $2 billion in loans, he said.

“By helping the companies to survive now, I’m hoping some of them would succeed and come back to us in the future,” Daniel said. “We’re nurturing our future clients.” A typical loan will be a one-year facility of $1 million to $10 million, or as much as 30% of the balances held with SVB, Daniel said. The priority is to help companies meet payroll expenses.

The fate of other SVB-linked entities appears to be somewhat rosier. Bloomberg reports that Royal Group, an investment firm controlled by a top Abu Dhabi royal, is considering a possible takeover of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank following its collapse last week, according to people familiar with the matter. The conglomerate, chaired by United Arab Emirates National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is discussing a potential buy-out through one of its subsidiaries.