News Press Releases

Signature Bank Releases 2020 Social Impact Report

SBNY | August 25, 2021

“A Year Like No Other” Report Captures the True Essence of the Bank’s Commitment to Colleagues, Clients and the Communities it Serves, Especially During a Most Challenging Year

Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced the release of its 2020 Social Impact Report.

The “A Year Like No Other” report reflects the Bank’s initiatives relating to its overarching Social Impact Purpose Statement by highlighting its social impact efforts and explaining their importance, especially during a global pandemic. The report features a broad range of Bank programs and best practices, providing readers transparency and insight into the Bank’s social impact commitment, operational activities and organizational structure. Readers can gain a keen understanding about what social impact means for the institution as a whole as well as to its colleagues, in a clear and personal manner. It marks a giant step forward in highlighting Signature Bank’s social impact journey, demonstrating its strong loyalty to colleagues, clients, communities and stakeholders.

Highlights include the following sections:

Thriving through Adversity – Details the Bank’s specific and extensive COVID-19 efforts
Putting People First, Doing Good – Summarizes the Bank’s Corporate Culture and Prioritizing of its Colleagues
Thinking Globally – Highlights the Bank’s Sustainable and Environmentally Focused Programs and Operations
Governing with Ethics, Integrity & Insight – Outlines the Bank’s Corporate Governance Practices and how they Benefit Stakeholders

“For more than 20 years, at Signature Bank we’ve treated our colleagues with trust, respect, professionalism and compassion. It was done instinctively and naturally, it became a part of our mantra, enabling the hiring of the best and most trusted bankers to fulfill our simple but very successful business model. The best of the best join the Bank on their own accord, not through acquisition where they have no say. It sounds easy but it’s actually quite difficult. Many -- if not most -- competitors operate within bureaucracies that negate the trust and compassion necessary for our business model to thrive,” explained Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“The release of our comprehensive Social Impact Report captures our model. It outlines our commitment to our colleagues and as such, extends to clients and communities. The recent appointment of our first social impact executive officer role, along with the establishment of our Social Impact Board Committee and internal Social Impact Management Committee, are all indicative of our long-term adherence to and belief in social responsibility. These efforts, coupled with our solid financial results, contribute to a more sustainable and prosperous future for all stakeholders,” DePaolo concluded.

Scott A. Shay, Chairman of the Board, said: “Since the Bank’s founding, we have lived by the words of the ancient sage, Shamai, who said, ‘say little, do much.’ We have long-recognized the broad impact every one of our business decisions has on our colleagues, clients, communities and the greater society. This has been our compass as we continually strive to do the right things. With an increased number of investors and stakeholders examining overall corporate social responsibility global initiatives, we are pleased to be sharing our activities. We continue to march to the beat of our own drum as it relates to doing our part to make our society better and communicating such to the larger community.”

Lisa Bond, Chief Social Impact Officer and Senior Vice President, added: “Since joining Signature Bank at the end of 2020, I have witnessed the socially responsible dedication of many of my colleagues. It was extraordinarily fulfilling to learn firsthand about the many social impact projects being implemented bank-wide and their effect on our stakeholders, particularly during such a challenging year. An unrelenting passion and commitment to doing good and making a difference is proudly reflected throughout this report and embedded in our corporate culture. I am honored and motivated to lead the Bank’s social impact actions, which will be ever-evolving as we identify additional sustainability solutions while relying on our core values and stringent governance practices to help drive continued success.”

The 2020 Social Impact Report is available in the investor relations section of Signature Bank’s website here.

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), member FDIC, is a New York-based, full-service commercial bank with 37 private client offices throughout the metropolitan New York area, as well as those in Connecticut, California 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.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, Signature Bank reached $96.9 billion in assets as of June 30, 2021. With $85.6 billion in deposits at second quarter-end 2021, Signature Bank placed 22nd on S&P Global’s list of the largest banks in the U.S., based on deposits.

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 solution to be approved for use by the NYS Department of Financial Services.

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, our business strategy and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on each of the foregoing and on our business overall. These 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. 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, which is having an unprecedented impact on all aspects of our operations, the financial services industry and the economy as a whole. 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. Considering 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.