NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Signature Bank (Nasdaq:SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced today that several new executive sales officers have joined Signature Financial LLC, the Bank’s specialty equipment finance subsidiary. The appointment of four new officers brings the total of Signature Financial’s direct sales team to 32 professionals nationwide.
Mark Murray, Dave Walter and Jason Wright were each named to the post of Vice President - Executive Sales Officer for Signature Financial’s equipment leasing and lending business while Devin Steele was appointed to the same post for the franchise finance business line.
Murray, who will be based in Minneapolis, brings greater than 25 years of finance experience to his new position. Most recently, he served as senior territory manager at Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. and FCC Equipment Financing, a division of Caterpillar. In these roles, he originated and negotiated large leases and loan transactions with construction contractors, establishing a strong expertise and market presence in this area. He also served in key finance lending roles at Cargill Leasing, GE Capital and US Bancorp. His specialty includes financing for the construction, aircraft and transportation sectors.
Walter, a 33-year finance veteran also joins from his role as a senior territory manager for 13 years at Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. and FCC Equipment Financing, where he managed retail and direct lending relationships for large customers in Oklahoma, West Texas, Nebraska and Kansas. During this time, he established a strong reputation in the construction equipment finance market. He also spent nearly 20 years at the CIT Group as regional sales manager and vice president, managing direct lending relationships in similar geographic areas from a diverse client base. Walter will be based in Wichita, Kan.
Wright has nearly 20 years of finance experience, including nearly four years previously spent at Signature Financial (from 2012-2015) as well as with Signature Financial’s management team at Capital One Equipment Finance for nearly a decade. Based in Chicago, Wright will originate business in Illinois and regions within Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. The Central Midwest has been his prime coverage area for years, where he focused on transportation, trucking and construction finance. Most recently, Wright was a regional vice president at LeasePlan USA, responsible for business development amongst the firm’s Fortune 1000 clients prior to rejoining Signature Financial.
Steele specializes in franchise finance and joins from Pacific Premier Franchise Capital (PPFC). As an account manager at PPFC, she was responsible for identifying and establishing lending relationships with restaurant franchisees across the country in more than 25 different brands and was charged with both originating and facilitating the closing of franchise finance transactions. Based in the Dallas area, Steele built a network of national relationships and contacts in the growing franchisee lending space.
“We continue to strengthen our sales officer network nationally with the appointment of these seasoned finance-focused professionals. These appointments will further enhance our already-strong presence in the construction, transportation and franchise arenas. We anticipate our construction finance business to continue growing as demand for equipment increases with greater national infrastructure rebuilding. In addition, our franchise finance direct business line, which commenced two years ago, has thrived. We expect to continue capitalizing on opportunities that expand our reach amongst established franchisees across recognized restaurant brands,” explained Walter Rabin, president and chief executive officer at Signature Financial.
“The significant construction equipment finance experience Mark and Dave bring is a natural fit for our business and will prove highly beneficial to Signature Financial. We welcome Jason back to his Signature Financial roots, where we know he is a proven leader and strong producer, particularly in the transportation sector. Devin will contribute to our ongoing franchise finance portfolio, where we concentrate on lending to proven restaurant concepts that continue to evolve and expand,” Rabin concluded.
“There are significant opportunities in the marketplace for us to expand the specialty finance side of our business, and we continue to capitalize on them. The appointment of these four new executive sales officers is indicative of the breadth and depth of experience available to us. We look forward to the contributions these individuals will make as we further diversify our balance sheet,” said Joseph J. DePaolo, president and chief executive officer at Signature Bank.
About Signature Bank and Signature Financial LLC
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. 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. 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.
Signature Financial 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.
Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $39.05 billion in assets, $29.04 billion in loans, $31.86 billion in deposits, $3.61 billion in equity capital and $3.35 billion in other assets under management as of December 31, 2016. Signature Bank's Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be considered well capitalized.
Signature Bank ranked on Forbes' Best Banks in America list for the seventh consecutive year in 2017 and was recently named Best Business Bank for the third consecutive year by the New York Law Journal in the publication’s seventh annual reader survey. The Bank also ranked second in the Best Private Bank and Best Attorney Escrow Services categories in the listing. Additionally, Signature Bank was cited among the top three of the nation's best private banking services providers in the 2017 Best of The National Law Journal reader rankings. The Bank was also named Best Commercial Bank of the Year - U.S. by International Banker in their International Banker 2017 North and South American Awards program.
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.
