Cash-strapped banks have borrowed $300bn from the Fed this past week

The central bank has lent about half as much as it provided during the 2008 crisis as banks rush to shore up their financials

Cash-short banks have borrowed about $300bn from the Federal Reserve in the past week, the central bank announced on Thursday.

Nearly half the money - $143bn - went to holding companies for two major banks that failed over the past week, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, triggering widespread alarm in financial markets. The Fed did not identify the banks that received the other half of the funding or say how many of them did so.