Signature Bank Adds Two Private Client Banking Teams to Network

Signature Bank (Nasdaq:SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced today that two private client banking teams have joined, increasing the total number of teams in its network to 94. Both teams will be based out of the Bank’s Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y. office when it opens later this year.

Tamara Gavrielof was named Group Director and Senior Vice President heading a five-person team, all joining from HSBC. She has worked in commercial banking in Forest Hills, where she was raised, for nearly 20 years. Gavrielof, with 26 years of related experience, spent the past seven as Cluster Branch Manager-Vice President at HSBC, heading a flagship HSBC branch on Continental Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y., managing nearly 20 people. This branch represented four locations that were consolidated into one. Previously, she was a Senior Branch Manager for Commerce Bank in Forest Hills.

Claudia Giraldo joins Gavrielof’s team as Associate Group Director and Vice President, having worked with her for the past 10 years. Most recently, Giraldo was Business Relationship Manager and Vice President at the Union Turnpike branch in Glen Oaks, Queens. She also held similar roles in Manhattan and Forest Hills. Prior, she too worked at Commerce Bank as Assistant Branch Manager in Forest Hills.

Also joining Gavrielof’s team is Diego Pinzon, appointed Associate Group Director and Vice President. Pinzon served as Senior International Business Relationship Manager at the same location as Giraldo for 10 years. With more than two decades of total banking experience, earlier, Pinzon was an Assistant Vice President and Small Business Relationship Manager at Chase Bank in lower Manhattan for 11 years.

Additionally, Lily Karim and Kamla Indarjit were each named Senior Client Associate. Karim worked with Gavrielof at the Continental Avenue branch for the past six years, providing compliance and operational support to the branch staff. Indarjit, coming from the same location where she too provided client support, was with her former institution and its predecessor banks for 32 years. During this time, she held various roles, including Branch Service Manager in Forest Hills, and has worked with Gavrielof and her co-workers for the past seven years.

Ilya Weisbord was concurrently named Group Director and Senior Vice President, leading a three-person team, joining from JPMorgan Chase. His 15-year banking career was spent at that institution, where he most recently served as Relationship Manager in Kew Gardens, Queens, working with commercial clients. While there, he also was a Business Development Officer, Equipment Finance Specialist and Underwriter/Business Consultant for new businesses.

Yan Tsukerman was appointed Associate Group Director and Vice President for Weisbord’s team. He was a Relationship Manager and Vice President at the Chase Bank on Northern Blvd. in Great Neck, handling a portfolio of business clients for the past eight years.

Rosamaria Ferreira was named Senior Client Associate for the team. She previously held the role of Assistant Vice President and Assistant Branch manager for the Great Neck branch. She has spent 22 of the 34 years she has dedicated to the banking industry at Chase.

“Signature Bank is well positioned to continue to take advantage of the constant volatility occurring throughout the metro-NY banking landscape. We have added five teams in 2014, and are expanding our presence in key strategic markets that we currently serve, such as Queens,” explained Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Office at Signature Bank.

“Tamara and Ilya’s teams will strengthen our presence as they execute the Bank’s single-point-of contact model and cater to the large number of commercial entities found throughout Queens,” DePaolo said.

Temporarily, Gavrielof and her team are working from Signature Bank’s Sutphin Blvd. office in Jamaica, Queens while Weisbord and his team are in Long Island City, Queens.

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 $22.4 billion in assets, $17.1 billion in deposits, $1.80 billion in equity capital and $2.24 billion in other assets under management as of December 31, 2013. 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.

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.