Signature Bank Appoints Two Private Client Banking Teams

Signature Bank (Nasdaq:SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced today the appointment of two private client banking teams to its growing network.

The first team consists of eight veteran banking professionals, all of whom join from Sterling National Bank’s commercial banking division. The team, which will be based from the Bank’s private client office at 261 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, is led by five Group Directors and Senior Vice Presidents: Michael Vasami, a 30-year banking veteran; Louis Cenname, Jr., who brings 32 years of banking expertise to Signature Bank; Steven Hebert, a 38-year seasoned banking professional, Salvatore F. Costa, with 50 years of banking experience; and, Anthony Grosso, with 47 years dedicated to the banking industry. Costa’s and Grosso’s entire banking careers were spent at Sterling. Combined, these professionals bring nearly 200 years of banking experience to Signature Bank.

Most recently, Vasami was Senior Managing Director and Senior Vice President in New York City, where he specialized in serving commercial banking and high-net-worth individuals. Earlier, he spent 22 years at HSBC and predecessor institutions, holding roles such as Senior Vice President, District Executive-NYC and Head of Premier Banking in the U.S. Vasami also served as a Commercial Team Leader and Senior Vice President for City National Bank.

Previously, Cenname was Managing Director and Senior Vice President, focusing on business development and relationship management. He had spent 22 years at Amalgamated Bank as First Vice President, managing the healthcare division where he garnered significant relationships.

Hebert was Managing Director and Senior Vice President for 14 years, focused on relationship banking. Earlier, he worked at Bank of New York’s Great Neck Branch on Long Island, managing business development for 10 years.

Costa was most recently a Managing Director and Senior Vice President, having spent five decades in commercial banking, where he served professional service firms as well as high-net-worth individuals.

Grosso, a 40+ year banking veteran, formerly served as Managing Director and Senior Vice President, specializing in real estate management, healthcare, professional services and not-for-profit clientele.

Other members of this team include Aashish Patel, who will serve as Relationship Manager. Patel was Assistant Vice President and Senior Client Associate, catering to real estate management, healthcare, professional services and not-for-profit clientele.

Anita Khan and Monica Paul serve as the team’s Senior Client Associates. Each spent 13 and nine years, respectively, at their former institution. Both have dedicated their entire careers to the banking industry. Khan worked at Apple Bank prior and Paul at JPMorgan Chase.

The second team is led by Robert Bingold. He was named Group Director and Senior Vice President to head a three person-team that joined Signature Bank’s newly opened Forest Hills, N.Y. banking office in Queens.

Bingold spent the past 25+ years at Citibank. Most recently, he was a Vice President and Branch Manager at Long Island’s Plainedge branch. Previously, Bingold spent 13 years at Citibank’s Nassau County Seat branch in Mineola in the same type of role, which involved business development and client services. In this capacity, Bingold catered to serving professional services organizations such as law firms, accounting entities and medical practices. Bingold’s team worked together while employed at the Mineola branch.

Jason Schneidermesser joins Bingold’s team as Associate Group Director and Vice President. Schneidermesser recently served as Senior Relationship Manager and Vice President of Commercial Banking at the Brooklyn offices of HSBC, providing commercial banking solutions for small businesses. Previously, he was a relationship manager at JPMorgan Chase’s New Hyde Park office, covering Queens and Northeast Brooklyn and at Citibank in Mineola. During his banking career, he developed an expertise in servicing real estate management firms and manufacturing businesses.

Susan Fields was appointed to the post of Senior Client Associate. For the past several years, she supported several business bankers in her position as Senior Sales Support Specialist at Capital One Bank’s corporate headquarters in Melville, N.Y. Prior, she was a personal banker at Citibank in Mineola.

“We are off to a solid start in 2015 with the appointment of these two teams. We continue to acquire strong, long-tenured talent attracted to our market reputation. As always, we will seize relevant opportunities to attract veterans to our network, just as in the appointment of each of these top-quality teams,” noted Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Bank.

“The Bank is becoming more and more recognized throughout the banking community for the success of our single-point-of-contact model, our unparalleled commitment to client care, our streamlined processes and our capital strength. Bankers prefer the type of model and culture found here at the Bank, which is an environment that affords them the chance to emphasize true relationship banking,” DePaolo said.

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 29 private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area, including those in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester, Long Island, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. 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. Its specialty finance subsidiary, Signature Financial, LLC, provides equipment finance and leasing as well as transportation and taxi medallion financing. Signature Securities Group Corporation, a wholly owned Bank subsidiary, is a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser and member FINRA/SIPC, offering investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products and services.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, Signature Bank has grown to $27.3 billion in assets, $22.6 billion in deposits, $2.5 billion in equity capital and $3.6 billion in other assets under management as of December 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 was named the Best Bank in America by Forbes for 2015 and the only large cap bank to appear on Forbes’ list of America’s 50 Most Trustworthy Financial Companies. Signature Bank also was voted Best Business Bank by the New York Law Journal in the publication’s fifth annual reader survey; named the nation’s fifth top-performing bank by ABA Banking Journal; and ranked seventh on Bank Director magazine’s 2014 Bank Performance Scorecard for banks with assets between $5 and $50 billion.

For more information, please visit www.signatureny.com.

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 our operations and business environment, all of which are difficult to predict and may be beyond our control. Forward-looking statements include 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 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.