Signature Bank, a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced that it was named the second best bank in the country by Forbes in its annual list of the Best Banks in America. Signature Bank’s position advanced one notch to the second slot in the 2014 list from 2013, when it ranked third. The 2014 list inclusion marks Signature Bank’s fourth consecutive appearance on the list, where each time it ranked in the top 10.

Signature Bank has been recognized industry wide throughout 2013. Other accolades consist of: ranking 7th in the list of Top Performing Big Banks domestically from the ABA Banking Journal, a trade publication; rating fifth in Bank Director Magazine’s (trade journal) annual Bank Performance Scorecard; and, being named the #1 Attorney Escrow Provider, the #2 Business Bank and the #2 Private Bank by the readers of the New York Law Journal in the legal periodical’s annual survey.

Forbes ranked the 100 largest publicly traded banks and thrifts using nine measures of financial health: return on average equity; net interest margin; nonperforming loans (NPLs) as a percentage of loans; nonperforming assets as percentage of assets; reserves as a percentage of NPLs; three capital ratios (Tier 1, risk-based and leverage) and revenue growth. All data was provided by Charlottesville, Va.-based financial data provider SNL Financial, with the exception of revenue growth. Forbes compiled the ranking of the best and worst banks based on an average of the individual ranks of each metric.

The fifth annual ranking of Forbes’ America’s Best and Worst Banks 2014 was released on December 19, 2013 on www.forbes.com.

“The fact that Signature Bank’s position continues to rise -- despite an increasingly competitive and tumultuous banking landscape -- is a true reflection of the dedication and talent of our entire network of private client bankers and financial professionals,” explained Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Bank.

“We continue to emphasize our single-point-of-contact approach, demonstrating our commitment to client care, and this philosophy has served our institution, clients and bankers well since our founding nearly 13 years ago. We have consistently delivered record results across all our key metrics, including significant growth in deposits, loans and earnings, and we are honored that the Bank’s performance was once again recognized by Forbes as well as other industry trade publications,” DePaolo said.

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 27 private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area. 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. The Bank operates Signature Financial, LLC, a specialty finance subsidiary focused on equipment finance and leasing, transportation financing and taxi medallion financing. Investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products and services are offered through the Bank’s subsidiary, Signature Securities Group Corporation, a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser and member FINRA/SIPC.
 
Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $21.0 billion in assets, $16.05 billion in deposits, $1.76 billion in equity capital and $1.76 billion in other assets under management as of September 30, 2013. Signature Bank's Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be considered well capitalized.