Expansion Brings Number of Sales Executives to 19 Nationwide

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Signature Financial, LLC, the specialty finance subsidiary of New York-based Signature Bank (NASDAQ:SBNY), announced today the appointment of seven seasoned sales professionals throughout the country. These sales executives bring decades of experience to Signature Financial, primarily in the areas of equipment and transportation leasing and finance.

Harry Newman was named Executive Sales Officer, and is based in the Knoxville, Tenn. area. He brings 30 years of financing expertise to Signature Financial. Prior, Newman was Vice President at Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, where he handled sourcing and negotiating a wide range of construction equipment transactions. Previously, he held various equipment finance-related positions at Citigroup and Astec Financial.

Craig T. Cleary was named Executive Sales Officer and is based in Harrisburg, Pa. Cleary has 20 years of experience in equipment financing, and most recently served as business development manager for De Lage Landen, a global provider of leasing, business and consumer finance solutions. Prior, he served as Vice President at both GE Capital and Citigroup. Cleary’s expertise extends into the construction and trucking industries.

Also appointed to the role of Executive Sales Officer is Bill Musgrave, who is based in the Denver, Colo. region. Musgrave has spent more than 30 years in the equipment finance arena, specializing in construction, bus finance and waste management. Before joining Signature Financial, he was a Vice President at Capital One Equipment Leasing & Finance for seven years. Musgrave previously worked in various finance positions at Zion’s Credit Corp., HSBC Business Credit and ITT Capital Financial.

Rob McKenna, based in Philadelphia, Pa., was named to the post of Executive Sales Officer, after garnering a 23-year career in specialty finance, with an emphasis in construction and transportation equipment. Most recently, McKenna was District Sales Manager at Paccar Financial Corp. in both Pa. and N.Y. Previously, he held Vice President of Sales roles at both GE Capital and CitiCapital.

Mark Riley was also appointed to the post of Executive Sales Officer and is based in Richmond, Va. Another 23-year financing veteran, Riley recently was a Commercial Loan Officer for People’s United Equipment Finance. An expert in construction and transportation financing, he also was a Senior Vice President and Regional Manager at CitiCapital and Senior Vice President and Sales Manager at GE Capital.

Joining the Signature Financial headquarters location in Melville, N.Y. is Executive Sales Officer Joseph D. Farinella, who brings 35 years of finance experience to his new position. Farinella, who specializes in construction equipment and transportation financing, previously served as a Vice President at Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, serving eastern New York and Connecticut. He spent 18 years at Wells Fargo and its predecessor, CIT Construction. Farinella also was Vice President at USI Capital and Leasing in New York City.

Rick Scheffel also joins Signature Financial’s headquarters in Melville as Executive Sales Officer. Scheffel’s direct origination efforts focus on serving commercial clients, not-for-profit entities and municipalities within Signature Bank’s metro-New York area footprint. Scheffel will also be supporting Signature Bank’s Private Client Groups by providing equipment leasing and finance solutions to enhance existing Bank relationships. Scheffel, with 16 years of lending experience, spent six years at TD Equipment Financial as New York Regional Manager focusing on business development. Previously, he spent 10 years as a senior sales executive at GE Capital in the Commercial Equipment Finance area.

“We are excited to further attract high-caliber sales professionals to Signature Financial from a wide variety of institutions. Since Signature Financial was introduced as part of Signature Bank just 16 months ago, we have steadily grown this specialty finance business unit, and the addition of these seven professionals helps to expand our nationwide capabilities,” noted Walter Rabin, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Financial.

“In a little over one year, Signature Financial added 19 sales executives in 17 locations throughout the country, and booked in excess of $1.3 billion in new originations. Additionally, Signature Financial ranked the 27th largest bank-affiliated institution in the industry as well as the 52nd largest equipment finance/leasing organization in the U.S., as of December 31, 2012, according to The Monitor, a leading industry trade publication. The Monitor ranks the finance industry annually in its Monitor 100issue, and Signature Financial was the highest ranked new entrant over the past decade. We are certainly proud of reaching these significant milestones in such short order,” Rabin said.

About Signature Financial and Signature Bank

Signature Financial, LLC, is a specialty finance subsidiary of Signature Bank, focused on equipment finance and leasing, transportation financing and taxi medallion financing. Signature Financial operates from 16 locations throughout the country.

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. 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 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; 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 (2) – 2066 Hylan Blvd. and 1688 Victory Blvd.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $19.7 billion in assets, $15.3 billion in deposits, $1.7 billion in equity capital and $1.8 billion in other assets under management as of June 30, 2013. 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.

Contacts

Signature Financial/Signature Bank
Investor Contact:
Eric R. Howell, 646-822-1402
Executive Vice President-Corporate & Business Development
ehowell@signatureny.com
or
Media Contact:
Susan J. Lewis, 646-822-1825
slewis@signatureny.com

Source: Signature Financial/Signature Bank

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