Signature Bank Appoints Financial Professionals to Its Asset-Based Lending Business and Specialty Finance Subsidiary

Eight Financial Executives Join the Bank’s Specialty Lending Areas,
Further Solidifying its Leadership Position Across Key Disciplines

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Signature
Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank,
announced today the appointment of several professionals joining both
its Asset-based Lending (ABL) Group as well as its wholly owned
subsidiary, Signature Financial LLC.

Three professionals were named to the ABL Group, led by Group Director
and Senior Vice President Robert Love: Robert Abraham, Vice President,
New Business Development; Melissa Anchundia, Vice President,
Underwriting; and Michael Grande, New Business Development,
Transportation and Logistics.

Abraham, with 30 years of business development and lending experience in
the credit, risk management and lending areas of banks, commercial
services and accounting companies, joins from Lakeland Bank, where he
was Team Leader Asset-Based Lending – Senior Vice President. In this
capacity, he managed the ABL Department, developing new business. Prior,
he was First Vice President for ABL at IDB Bank, where he managed a
large ABL portfolio.

Anchundia has spent 17 years in finance, most recently as Vice President
of Credit Administration at Bank Hapoalim, where she provided credit and
collateral oversight for all their lending teams. Prior, she spent seven
years at Wells Fargo Capital Finance, most recently as Vice President
and ABL Relationship Manager, managing a portfolio comprised of middle
market asset-based transactions in consumer products and earlier, as
Assistant Vice President, Operations Analyst, designing and implementing
strategic system analysis.

Grande is a seasoned finance executive who specializes in transportation
and logistics finance. He spent the past 25 years providing
transportation companies credit facilities to fund acquisitions, growth,
working capital, equipment and turnaround financing. Most recently, as
Senior Vice President for Santander, he helped the institution build an
East Coast presence, providing transportation-related credit facilities.
Earlier, as Senior Vice President for the Business Credit Services
division of CapitalSource Finance, LLC, Grande helped build a national
asset-based loan platform with a focus on transportation intermediaries.

Concurrent with the ABL expansion, Signature Bank also grew its
specialty finance business unit, appointing five professionals to the
post of Vice President – Executive Sales Officer, including Katherine
Adams, Steve Brantley, Karle Armitage, Andrew Jones and Anthony Zaccari.
The new additions are strategically located in various areas of the
country and responsible for covering specific geographic territories or
business segment specialties. The appointment of these professionals
brings the total number of Signature Financial’s direct sales team to 33
professionals nationwide.

Adams is based in Hattiesburg, Miss. and has 22 years of equipment
finance experience. Prior, she was Vice President at The First, a
National Banking Association, also in Hattiesburg, where she was
responsible for operations. She also was First Vice President at
BancorpSouth Equipment Finance in Hattiesburg for 14 years. In her
tenure, she worked in various other related roles, including Director of
Operations and Commercial Credit Officer.

Brantley, with 20 years of specialty finance experience, is also based
in Hattiesburg. Earlier, he was a Vice President and Commercial Lender
for The First, a National Banking Association, in Hattiesburg,
responsible for identifying and closing new equipment loans. Previously,
he spent 15 years as Vice President, Territory Manager at BancorpSouth
Equipment Finance (Hattiesburg). In addition to his role as an equipment
generalist, Brantley will also source commercial marine opportunities in
the Gulf Coast for Signature Financial.

Armitage, with a 40-year career in finance, is based in Boise, Idaho,
and was a Territory Sales Manager at First Midwest Equipment Finance
(Boise) before joining Signature Financial, a position in which he
focused on construction loans. He spent 38 years at Wells Fargo
Equipment Finance in Boise, also in the construction lending arena.

Jones, who was named Executive Sales Officer as well as Vice
President—Franchise Finance, is based in Stuart, Fla. In this capacity,
he will focus on new business development in the franchise finance
arena. He had served as Business Development Officer and Vice President
of Franchise Finance at PNC Bank in Horsham, Pa., originating cash
flow-based franchise loans to multi-unit operators of franchised quick
serve and fast casual restaurants. Prior, he was Business Development
Officer and Vice President at United Capital Business Lending and brings
25 years of franchise-related finance experience to Signature Financial.

Zaccari, with 15 years of finance-related expertise, most recently spent
13 years at Caterpillar; for the past seven, he was Corporate Account
Manager for Caterpillar Financial, responsible for serving its pipeline
and energy infrastructure clients throughout North America. Previously,
he worked in the direct lending group, FCC Equipment Finance, with
responsibility for Southern Texas and Louisiana. Zaccari is based in
Cypress, Tex., a Houston suburb, and will focus on the construction
market throughout southwestern Texas as well as clients with general
equipment finance needs.

“We are pleased to attract all these seasoned finance professionals to
the Bank, each of whom comes with a niche expertise that will complement
various areas of our diverse lending businesses. With the hiring of
these highly experienced specialty banking professionals, the Bank is
advancing its diversification strategy and expanding its presence
throughout the country. By bolstering our ABL and specialty finance
businesses, we are further solidifying our market position in these key
areas. We look forward to contributions each of these professionals will
make in their new roles, and to their impact on these lending
businesses,” said Signature Bank President and Chief Executive Officer
Joseph J. DePaolo.

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial
bank with 30
private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area,
including those in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester, Long Island,
Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Connecticut. In 2018, the Bank
expanded its footprint on the West Coast with the opening of its first
full-service private client banking office in San Francisco. The Bank’s
growing network of private client banking teams serves the needs of
privately owned businesses, their owners and senior managers.

Signature Financial, LLC, is a specialty finance subsidiary of Signature
Bank, dedicated to equipment finance and leasing, transportation
financing, franchise finance and commercial marine finance. Signature
Financial operates from 29 locations throughout the country. 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, the Bank has grown to $45.22
billion in assets, $34.15 billion in loans, $34.99 billion in deposits,
$4.15 billion in equity capital and $3.49 billion in other assets under
management as of June 30, 2018. Signature Bank’s Tier 1 and risk-based
capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be
considered well capitalized.

Signature Bank is ranked the 40^th largest bank in the
U.S. from nearly 6,000, based on deposits (SNL Financial). The
Bank recently earned several third-party recognitions, including:
appeared on Forbes’
Best Banks in America list for the eighth consecutive year in 2018;
named Best Business Bank, Best Private Bank and Best Attorney Escrow
Services provider by the New
York Law Journal in the publication’s annual
“Best of” survey for 2018, earning it a place in the New York Law
Journal’s Hall of Fame, awarded to companies that have ranked in the
“Best of” Survey for at least three of the past four years.

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.

Contacts

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