NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced today the appointment of two private client banking teams, marking a total of four who have joined to date in 2011.
Nelli Teplinsky was named Group Director and Senior Vice President and her colleague, Natalie Leviev, was appointed Senior Client Associate. They will be based out of the Bank’s 300 Park Avenue office in Manhattan.
Both Teplinsky and Leviev join from HSBC’s 250 Park Avenue branch where Teplinsky was a Vice President, Senior Premier Relationship Manager for 10 years. Previously, she was a banker at Fleet Bank USA. Her banking career spans 20 years.
Leviev, who spent four years working with Teplinsky, was most recently a Premier Client Officer, having been promoted from Premier Banking Specialist.
Signature Bank also appointed a five-person team, headed by Lawrence Blascovich and Louis Krawiecz, each of whom were named Group Director and Senior Vice President, and have worked together for nearly a decade. The team, which joins from HSBC, includes Howard Efran and Marie Belizaire, Associate Group Directors and Vice Presidents; and Wilma St. Rose, Senior Client Associate. They will be based out of the Bank’s soon-to-be opened office on the west side of midtown Manhattan.
Most recently, Blascovich was First Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager in the Premier Corporate and Professional Services Division for the past 11 years, in midtown Manhattan. In this capacity, he managed a private client team of six relationship managers. He spent nearly 24 years at HSBC and its predecessor company, Republic National Bank, serving in a range of roles with increasing responsibility. He began his banking career at Chase Manhattan Bank.
Krawiecz brings more than 35 years of banking expertise to Signature Bank. He spent nearly 10 years at his former institution as Vice President, Senior Relationship Manager at the same location as Blascovich, where he focused on serving private clients in the real estate and professional services arenas. Prior, he was an Assistant Vice President, Middle Market Relationship Manager at Chase Manhattan Bank.
Efran and Belizaire each spent approximately 15 years at HSBC in the same branch as their colleagues. Both most recently served as Assistant Vice President, Relationship Manager, catering to a broad range of middle market entities and high-net-worth individuals. Efran’s banking career extends three decades while Belizaire’s spans two. St. Rose was a client service officer at the same branch, where she was employed for 15 years.
“In keeping with the premise of our model to attract the NY metro area’s top private client relationship bankers, these two teams further validate those efforts. Both teams represent some of the industry’s leading producers and are experts in the private client banking arena. They are also well established and have built solid reputations in the industry. We look forward to their contributions in helping expand Signature Bank’s presence throughout Manhattan, where they have worked for decades, garnering important client relationships,” remarked Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Bank.
“As we enter the 2011 second quarter, the Bank has already named four teams to its franchise. This is indicative of the vast opportunity that remains prevalent in the marketplace and of our growing reputation,” DePaolo concluded.
Both teams’ interest in joining Signature Bank stems from its private client focus and leadership position within that niche as well as its single point of contact approach to banking.
About Signature Bank
Signature Bank, member FDIC, a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 24 private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area, serves the needs of privately owned businesses, their owners and senior managers through dozens of private client groups. The Bank offers a wide variety of business and personal banking products and services as well as investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products and services through its subsidiary, Signature Securities Group Corporation, a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser and member FINRA/SIPC.
Signature Bank's 24 offices are located: In Manhattan - 261 Madison Avenue; 300 Park Avenue; 71 Broadway; 565 Fifth Avenue; 950 Third Avenue; 200 Park Avenue South; 1020 Madison Avenue and 50 West 57th Street. Brooklyn - 26 Court Street; 84 Broadway and 6321 New Utrecht Avenue. Westchester - 1C Quaker Ridge Road, New Rochelle and 360 Hamilton Avenue, White Plains. Long Island - 1225 Franklin Avenue, Garden City; 279 Sunrise Highway, Rockville Centre; 68 South Service Road, Melville; 923 Broadway, Woodmere; 40 Cuttermill Road, Great Neck and 100 Jericho Quadrangle, Jericho. Queens - 36-36 33rd Street, Long Island City; 78-27 37th Avenue, Jackson Heights and 8936 Sutphin Blvd., Jamaica. Bronx - 421 Hunts Point Avenue, Bronx. Staten Island - 2066 Hylan Blvd.
Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $11.7 billion in assets, $9.44 billion in deposits, $944.5 million in equity capital and $1.86 billion in other assets under management as of December 31, 2010. 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. Forward-looking statements include information concerning our future results, interest rates and the interest rate environment, loan and deposit growth, loan performance, operations, competition, capitalization, new private client team hires, new office openings, the regulatory environment and business strategy. These statements often include words such as "may," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "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 and regulatory conditions; (ii) changes in interest rates, loan demand, real estate values and competition, which can materially affect origination levels and gain on sale results in our business, as well as other aspects of our financial performance; (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; and (iv) competition for clients, loans, deposits, qualified personnel and desirable office locations. 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.