Silicon Valley Bank on Friday paid out annual bonuses to some eligible U.S. employees, just hours before the bank was seized by the U.S. government, Axios reported, citing sources.

The Santa Clara, California-based bank has always paid employee bonuses on the second Friday of March and that the bonsues had been in the works well before the bank's failure, sources told CNBC.

SVB has historically paid bonuses of $12,000 to associates and as much as $140,000 to managing directors.

SVB paid the highest salaries of any publicly traded bank in 2022, with average compensation of $250,683 for its 8,528 employees. Upon SVB's seizure, workers were offered 45 days of termination pay.