Under a new plan unveiled on Sunday, the Federal Reserve’s loans to U.S. banks were capped at about $12 billion on Thursday, as officials in Washington sought to ease pressure on the financial system in the wake of the collapse. “Silicon Valley” Bank.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said in a statement on Thursday that amounts due under the “temporary funding program for banks” had reached $11.9 billion by Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve, along with the Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., unveiled a loan plan Sunday night that would avert the liquidity problems of other banks that prompted the collapse of the “Silicon Valley bank.”

The program provides additional funding to “help ensure that banks can meet the needs of all depositors,” the central bank said in a statement.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told senators on Thursday that officials moved quickly to protect depositors at Silicon Valley and Signature Bank, which collapsed after seeing a “serious contagion risk” in the banking sector.

A few days after the collapse of “Silicon Valley Bank”, the shares of several regional banks, led by “First Republic”, fell due to concerns about the long-term financial situation.

But markets reacted positively after a group of 11 major US banks, including Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan, announced on Thursday that they had deposited $30 billion in First Republic.

In a statement, the board said its actions reflected “confidence in the country’s banking system”.