Signature Bank Expands into New Specialty Finance Markets Through Its Signature Financial LLC Subsidiary

Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), a New York-based full service commercial bank, announced today that its specialty finance subsidiary, Signature Financial LLC, will begin offering direct finance services for both the franchise and commercial marine industries on a national basis.

Signature Financial’s franchise business will provide financing to franchise operators across a variety of national and regional restaurant concepts and chains, such as those engaged in fast-casual and family-oriented restaurant businesses.

Its commercial marine unit will specialize in the financing of commercial vessels, including supply ships, tug boats, barges and commercial passenger transport vessels.

Heading efforts for the franchise business is John R. Black, a franchise financing expert with 33 years of industry-related experience. In his new role as National Franchise Finance Manager, Black will be responsible for loan origination, strategy and direction of Signature Financial’s franchise finance business.

Before joining Signature Financial, Black served as Vice President - Business Development Officer for BankUnited in Miami where he handled franchise lending, primarily for fast-food restaurants. Throughout his career, he held a range of positions at Sovereign Bank, Imperial Capital Bank and Safeco Credit Co., all focused on franchise financing. During his 13-year tenure at Safeco, he was the leading originator of franchise financing loans. Black also was Vice President – Marketing for NFA Restaurant Finance and earlier in his career, spent nearly 10 years at Westinghouse Corp., in a range of credit-related roles.

Supporting Black is Thomas E. Eylander, who was named Senior Risk Underwriting Manager for franchise finance. Eylander, with 35 years of related experience, most recently served as Senior Credit Analyst/Senior Underwriter at Pacific Continental Bank. He also held credit/loan administration roles at United Grocers, Inc. and Associated Grocers, Inc. Eylander spent 22 years at Safeco serving in a range of credit management and analyst roles, including working with Black in the franchise finance sector as Senior Risk Officer.

Richard J. Paine, Sr. was appointed National Marine Sales Manager for Signature Financial’s new commercial marine finance initiative. In this capacity, he will lead Signature Financial’s direct commercial marine business development efforts and aid in the development of the new unit’s strategic direction. Paine brings more than 20 years of marine lending expertise to his new position. Most recently, he was National Finance Manager in the Commercial Marine Group at TCF Equipment Finance, Inc., where he started the company’s specialized maritime and transportation group, targeting shipbuilders, operators, service providers and vessel owners. Additionally, Paine created the marine lending initiative at Key Equipment Finance, a division of KeyBank Corp. He also held other finance and business development roles at CitiCapital, General Electric Commercial Corp., and Debis Financial Services, Inc., a division of Daimler Chrysler.

“During the past several years, we have demonstrated and carefully pursued our interest in entering into complementary business lines that strengthen our offerings, as evidenced by the successful launch of Signature Financial in 2012 which has originated in excess of $2 billion in loans and leases. Our entrance into the specialty finance arenas for both the franchise and marine markets is another example of this strategy, and represents our commitment to seize relevant opportunities to provide clients a comprehensive portfolio of products and services. These initiatives will further strengthen Signature Bank’s already strong balance sheet through the diversification of our lending businesses,” explained Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Signature Bank.

“This is an exciting endeavor for Signature Financial and Signature Bank, as we extend our specialty finance expertise into additional thriving industries. Since identifying significant opportunities within both the franchise and marine sectors, we are pleased to have attracted talented professionals like John, Richard and Tom to lead Signature Financial’s expansion in these two specialty areas. We welcome these industry-leading veterans to the Signature Financial team, and look forward to bringing their lending expertise to our Company and to the new clients we will be serving,” commented Walter Rabin, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Financial.

Black, a resident of Arlington, Texas, speaks often about franchise lending, and is a recognized industry resource. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration–Finance from the University of Georgia.

Paine resides in Island Park, N.Y. and will work from Signature Financial’s Melville, Long Island, N.Y. offices. He writes about the commercial marine business for industry trade publications and also is a speaker and moderator on relevant subject matter. He is a member of the Passenger Vessel Association and the American Waterways Operations, and former member of Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. Eylander, a resident of Mill Creek, Wash., earned both his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash.

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 27 private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area. The Bank’s growing network of private client banking teams serves the needs of privately owned businesses, their owners and senior managers.

Signature Bank offers a wide variety of business and personal banking products and services. The Bank operates Signature Financial, LLC, a specialty finance subsidiary focused on equipment finance and leasing, transportation financing and taxi medallion financing. Investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products and services are offered through the Bank’s subsidiary, Signature Securities Group Corporation, a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser and member FINRA/SIPC.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $23.1 billion in assets, $18.3 billion in deposits, $1.91 billion in equity capital and $1.99 billion in other assets under management as of March 31, 2014. Signature Bank's Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be considered well capitalized.

Signature Bank's 27 offices are located in: Manhattan (9) - 261 Madison Avenue; 300 Park Avenue; 71 Broadway; 565 Fifth Avenue; 950 Third Avenue; 200 Park Avenue South; 1020 Madison Avenue; 50 West 57th Street and 2 Penn Plaza. Brooklyn (3) - 26 Court Street; 97 Broadway and 6321 New Utrecht Avenue. Westchester (2) - 1C Quaker Ridge Road, New Rochelle and 360 Hamilton Avenue, White Plains. Long Island (7) - 1225 Franklin Avenue, Garden City; 53 North Park Avenue, Rockville Centre; 68 South Service Road, Melville; 923 Broadway, Woodmere; 40 Cuttermill Road, Great Neck; 100 Jericho Quadrangle, Jericho and 360 Motor Parkway, Hauppauge. Queens (3) –36-36 33rd Street, Long Island City; 78-27 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights and 8936 Sutphin Blvd., Jamaica. Bronx (1) - 421 Hunts Point Avenue, Bronx. Staten Island (2) - 2066 Hylan Blvd. and 1688 Victory Blvd.

This press release and oral statements made from time to time by our representatives contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks and uncertainties. You should not place undue reliance on those statements because they are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties relating to market conditions, our operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and may be beyond our control. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the offering and information concerning our future results, interest rates and the interest rate environment, loan and deposit growth, loan performance, operations, new private client teams and other hires, new office openings and business strategy. These statements often include words such as "may," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," “potential,” “opportunity,” “could,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” would,” "plan," "estimate" or other similar expressions. As you consider forward-looking statements, you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements and can change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to us or in our control. These factors include but are not limited to: (i) prevailing economic and capital markets conditions; (ii) changes in interest rates, loan demand, real estate values and competition, any of which can materially affect origination levels and gain on sale results in our business, as well as other aspects of our financial performance, including earnings on interest-bearing assets; (iii) the level of defaults, losses and prepayments on loans made by us, whether held in portfolio or sold in the whole loan secondary markets, which can materially affect charge-off levels and required credit loss reserve levels; (iv) changes in monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. Government, including policies of the U.S. Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; (v) changes in the banking and other financial services regulatory environment and (vi) competition for qualified personnel and desirable office locations. Although we believe that these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, beliefs and expectations, if a change occurs or our beliefs, assumptions and expectations were incorrect, our business, financial condition, liquidity or results of operations may vary materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements. Additional risks are described in our quarterly and annual reports filed with the FDIC. You should keep in mind that any forward-looking statements made by Signature Bank speak only as of the date on which they were made. New risks and uncertainties come up from time to time, and we cannot predict these events or how they may affect the Bank. Signature Bank has no duty to, and does not intend to, update or revise the forward-looking statements after the date on which they are made. In light of these risks and uncertainties, you should keep in mind that any forward-looking statement made in this release or elsewhere might not reflect actual results.