Signature Public Funding Corp. has been formed by New York-based Signature Bank as a wholly-owned subsidiary unit that will specialize in municipal finance nationwide.
The company, which is headquartered in Towson, Md., plans to offer a variety of municipal finance products and tax-exempt lending and leasing services to state and local governments, school districts, and fire, police and other departments across the United States.
The new firm will be overseen by the management team at Signature Financial, the bank's specialty finance unit, whose team is experienced in municipal finance.
"The creation of Signature Public Funding complements the specialty finance business lines offered through Signature Financial that we launched back in April 2012," said Joseph J. DePaolo, Signature Bank President and CEO.
Signature Bank's business model is based on finding teams of bankers and then opening an office or unit around them.
"We were looking for several years to create a municipal unit," Walter Rabin, CEO of Signature Financial, told The Bond Buyer. "We were looking for the right team to fit with our bank's vision — one that is client-centric and risk averse. And we found them with our new hires."
Donald S. Keough has been named senior managing director of the new unit and will oversee the firm's day-to-day management and operations. He is a lawyer and worked in public finance since 2002. Previously, he practiced law privately for three years, representing lenders and lessors in the municipal arena. Before this, he was vice president at SunTrust Equipment Finance & Leasing Corp. for seven years, heading operations of the public finance and municipal lending division.
Richard C. Cumbers has been appointed as senior managing underwriter. He has worked in the financial services sector for 20 years, focusing on municipal and public lending at various firms. Most recently, he was a senior risk officer at Bridge Capital Leasing, a division of Bank United.
Keough and Cumbers have worked together before. At SunTrust they helped build a team that closed on more than $1.2 billion in public finance transactions annually.
"This new venture at Signature Bank is a very exciting one for me and Rich as well as the team we are creating here," Keough said. "By leveraging Signature Bank's proven platform and the strength of its reputation coupled with the success of Signature Financial, we are confident in the support we will garner for the tax-exempt business and the team we will establish to service the municipal space."
Tonia Lee was named senior documentation officer, supporting lending. Lee formerly worked at Grant Capital Management, where she was an assistant vice president/senior portfolio manager responsible for document drafting, negotiations and review.
The new unit will focus on providing financing to municipalities in the acquisition of equipment for essential services as well as in a range of infrastructure projects.
While Signature Public Funding will complement some lines of Signature Financial's existing business lines, it is also a separate unit with differing characteristics.
"It has a different set of customers, that actually matches closely the bank's customer base," Rabin said, adding that the new unit will help support some of the bank's existing municipal clients.
Rabin said he expects Signature Public to expand its staff over the course of the rest of the year. He hopes to have a team of from six to eight in place by the end of 2015.
"But it's the right people that we are trying to attract," Rabin said, "We are looking for a team of people who are experts in their field. And the team aspect cannot be overstated. This has been a key to our growth."
Signature Bank is a full-service commercial bank, which began operations in 2001, and now has offices throughout the New York metropolitan area.
