Signature Bank Responds to Inaccuracies in Wall Street Journal Article

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), a New York-based, full-service commercial bank, addressed an article today that appeared in the Monday, January 23, 2023 edition of the Wall Street Journal titled “U.S. Home-Loan Banks Help Crypto Lenders Stem Outflows.” The article includes inaccurate statements that the Bank would like to clarify.

The headline falsely refers to Signature Bank as a “crypto lender.” Signature Bank does not lend in the crypto space, nor does it have loans that are backed by crypto assets. Additionally, the Bank does not invest, does not hold, and does not custody crypto assets. Signature Bank’s relationships with clients in the crypto space are limited to U.S. dollar-denominated deposits only.

The article also incorrectly states that Signature Bank is “rushing to stem a flood of customer withdrawals.” In the fourth quarter of 2022, the Bank announced a plan to purposely decrease deposits in the digital asset banking space by reducing the size of relationships; thus, these deposits are declining as the Bank is intentionally managing them to a lower level. Signature Bank is replacing these deposits primarily with advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLBNY) in the short-term.

The Bank’s relationship with the FHLBNY spans more than two decades. Signature Bank, a well-diversified institution spanning many business lines, naturally aligns with the FHLB, particularly with its multifamily lending, and is deeply committed to providing funds to support housing within the local communities it serves. As evidence of this commitment, Signature Bank has been a top three multi-family lender in the New York metro area since 2009; in some years, the Bank was the leading multi-family lender. Signature Bank is also one of the largest financers of low-to-moderate income multifamily housing in New York. Again, this commitment to housing is completely aligned with the FHLBNY’s mission to meet the housing finance and community development needs of its members’ communities. Signature Bank’s total portfolio for multifamily lending was $19.5 billion as of December 31, 2022, and the Bank originated $5.4 billion over the course of the last year.

As of year-end, Signature Bank’s FHLB advances amounted to 10 percent of total assets, which is within its normal range, as the Bank has historically operated over 10 percent. This level of FHLB advances is in line with peers. Although the Bank remains well positioned with sufficient liquidity ($25.3 billion in borrowing capacity as of year-end), the Bank plans to reduce its borrowings with other deposits over time. Signature heavily invests in highly liquid government agency securities, totaling $24.5 billion, of which $23.5 billion is pledged with the FHLB. The FHLB can easily liquidate these securities, if necessary.

In a statement, the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York said: “The FHLBNY is proud to serve as a liquidity partner to each of our more than 300 members, including Signature Bank, with which we have a longstanding relationship that has significantly supported multifamily lending across New York City. FHLBNY credit products enhance the financial strength of local lenders like Signature, providing them with a reliable source of liquidity to meet the housing finance and credit needs of their communities and support their balance sheet management strategies in all operating environments. Our privately sourced funding is secured by high-quality, mission-eligible collateral pledged by our members, and available to all members in good standing with our cooperative.”

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 40 private client offices throughout the metropolitan New York area, as well as those in Connecticut, California, Nevada, and North Carolina. Through its single-point-of-contact approach, the Bank’s private client banking teams primarily serve the needs of privately owned businesses, their owners, and senior managers.

The Bank has two wholly owned subsidiaries: Signature Financial, LLC, provides equipment finance and leasing; and, Signature Securities Group Corporation, a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser and member FINRA/SIPC, offers investment, brokerage, asset management, and insurance products and services. Signature Bank was the first FDIC-insured bank to launch a blockchain-based digital payments platform. Signet™ allows commercial clients to make real-time payments in U.S. dollars, 24/7/365 and was also the first blockchain-based solution to be approved for use by the NYS Department of Financial Services.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, Signature Bank reported $110.36 billion in assets and $88.59 billion in deposits as of December 31, 2022. Signature Bank placed 19^th on S&P Global’s list of the largest banks in the U.S., based on deposits as of year-end 2021.

For more information, please visit https://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. 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 expectations regarding future results, interest rates and the interest rate environment, loan and deposit growth, loan performance, operations, new private client teams’ hires, new office openings, business strategy and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on each of the foregoing and on our business overall. Forward – looking statements often include words such as “may,” “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “potential,” “opportunity,” “could,” “project,” “seek,” “target,” “goal,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “plan,” “estimate” or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements may also address our sustainability progress, plans, and goals (including climate change and environmental-related matters and disclosures), which may be based on standards for measuring progress that are still developing, internal controls and processes that continue to evolve, and assumptions that are subject to change in the future. 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; (vi) our ability to maintain the continuity, integrity, security and safety of our operations and (vii) competition for qualified personnel and desirable office locations. All of these factors are subject to additional uncertainty in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, which are having impacts on all aspects of our operations, the financial services industry and the economy as a whole. Additional risks are described in our quarterly and annual reports filed with the FDIC. 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. 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.