BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Silicon Valley and Signature banks have both collapsed over the past several days, creating unrest throughout the industry and the stock market.

"In my opinion, they were listed as banks but they were really high-risk investment companies and they weren't looking out for the best interest of their depositors and their investors and their shareholders," New York Republican state Sen. George Borrello said.

Borrello is the Republican ranking member on the state Senate Banks Committee. The committee primarily deals with regulations for state-chartered banks like M&T, among the largest.

He said those banks are on much more solid ground.

"The banks that are involved in some of the what we would call the more mundane and boring things like mortgages and car loans and small business loans, those are the safe investments that are backed up with assets," Borrello said.

The Banks Committee chair, Democrat James Sander, released a statement over the weekend as the state Department of Financial Services took possession of Signature, another state-chartered bank. Sanders commended the administration for quick action while renewing the call to pass legislation to create a cryptocurrency study taskforce vetoed last year.

The chair also criticized deregulation at the federal level and called for the state to determine what kinds of additional oversight could prevent similar crises in the future.

Borrello, however, is wary.

"I would say we would be actively waiting and watching and monitoring, but to make a move at this point, particularly a move that could cause harm, isn't prudent in my opinion," he said.

Borrello said he is hoping a postponed briefing between the committee and DFS will happen as soon as Wednesday.

"My questions for DFS come down to, in New York state, in particular our state-chartered banks, is there anyone that may be at risk that they're identifying? I suspect it's going to be a short list," he said.

The Republican said the banks regulated by the states often drive the local lending landscape so state Legislature action without careful consideration could negatively impact the New York economy.

"The more we drive those people out of the state and drive them out of being state-chartered banks, the less opportunity we will have for small businesses, for startups, for young families because those decisions will now be made somewhere out of state or out of the country instead of their local communities," he said.