Signature Bank Appoints Two New Private Client Banking Teams; Expands Presence in Staten Island, N.Y.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced today the appointment of two new private client banking teams, who will operate from its second Staten Island private client banking office, currently being planned.

“Signature Bank’s single-point-of-contact approach affords us the autonomy necessary to best meet the needs of our clients and allows us to truly focus on bringing them the level of care and service they require and deserve. We look forward to bringing our banking experience and established relationships to Signature Bank.”

Larry Goldberg, a 30-year banking veteran, was named Group Director and Senior Vice President. He leads a four-person private client banking team who joined from a Citibank office in Staten Island, where most of them worked together for approximately nine years. Goldberg spent the past 18 years overseeing Citibank branches in Manhattan and Staten Island. Most recently, he was branch manager and senior vice president at the Victory Blvd. location, a position he held for the past nine years. Prior, he was a branch manager in Manhattan and Long Island for Fidelity Investments.

Joining Goldberg’s team are Associate Group Directors and Vice Presidents Flora Vavallo and Anthony D. Shafer along with Senior Client Associate Lauren Mattera. Vavallo, who spent 35 years at Citibank in various capacities, was most recently a business banker for clients spanning a range of industries. Shafer, who brings a decade of banking expertise to his new role, was a personal banker and assistant vice president, responsible for overseeing the entire book of business at the Bayonne, New Jersey branch. Mattera spent 10 years in a client services role at various Citibank locations.

Guy Gioeli also joined the Bank as Group Director and Senior Vice President, heading a four-person team who worked together for nearly five years at Citibank’s Hylan Blvd. branch, also on Staten Island. Gioeli, a 20-year banking professional, served as senior vice president and branch manager at that location for the past five years. Previously, he worked at Prudential as a sales manager.

Linda Mulroy and Annette Lucas-Thomas were each named Associate Group Director and Vice President as part of Gioeli’s team. Both spent 33 years as business bankers at the Hylan Blvd. location where they serviced an array of commercial clients. Shari Gutkin, appointed to the post of Senior Client Associate, worked with the team for the past five years in a client services role.

“Both of these seasoned banking teams have deep roots within the Staten Island community and bring strong relationships as well as decades of experience to Signature Bank,” noted Joseph J. DePaolo, Signature Bank President and Chief Executive Officer.

“We continue to demonstrate our commitment to Staten Island with the appointment of these two experienced teams of banking professionals and the anticipated opening of our second private client banking office. We look forward to expanding our footprint in Staten Island and serving our client base while building solid business relationships. We are well positioned to further our commercial banking efforts there,” DePaolo concluded.

Goldberg and Gioeli noted: “Signature Bank’s single-point-of-contact approach affords us the autonomy necessary to best meet the needs of our clients and allows us to truly focus on bringing them the level of care and service they require and deserve. We look forward to bringing our banking experience and established relationships to Signature Bank.”

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 26 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.

Signature Bank's 26 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; 84 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; 279 Sunrise Highway, 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 (1) - 2066 Hylan Blvd.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $17.5 billion in assets, $14.1 billion in deposits, $1.7 billion in equity capital and $1.7 billion in other assets under management as of December 31, 2012. Signature Bank's Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be considered well capitalized.

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 team 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. 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. As you read and consider forward-looking statements, you should understand that these statements are not guarantees of performance or results. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions and can change as a result of many possible events or factors, not all of which are known to us or in our control. 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.