Signature Bank, a New York-based, full-service commercial bank, announced the launch of a new business line with the appointment of a nine-person Healthcare Banking and Finance (HBF) team. The new private client banking team will provide lending services while garnering deposits to clients within the healthcare arena.

Leading the new business and HBF team is Matthew T. Huber, recently named Senior Vice President and Managing Group Director. In this capacity, Huber will oversee all aspects of the HBF team, including managing the team’s pipeline and banking activities and building a healthcare-related portfolio spanning both lending and deposit clients.

The HBF team is focused on serving for-profit and non-profit companies which provide a range of healthcare services as well as senior housing owners and operators, hospitals, large physician practices, ambulatory surgery centers, drug and rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing homes and facilities offering independent living, assisted living and memory care and continuing care retirement communities.

Huber brings 25 years of healthcare banking and finance experience to his new role. During the course of his extensive career, he developed a specialty niche in healthcare banking. Most recently, he was Market Manager, Healthcare Finance at People’s United Bank until it merged with M&T Bank. He managed and oversaw the healthcare finance business vertical, serving clients throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic market. Prior to that, he was Director, Healthcare Enterprise Strategy – Commercial Segment at Key Bank, N.A., in Syracuse, NY. He spent seven years as Senior Director and Division Manager – Commercial Healthcare Group at First Niagara Bank, also in Syracuse and was Senior Vice President and Regional Manager, Real Estate Capital Healthcare Group at Key Bank, N.A., in Cleveland, Ohio.

Joining Huber’s team are several seasoned banking professionals who also previously worked at People’s United Bank, including:

• Walter Unangst, named Senior Vice President and Group Director at Signature Bank, was formerly Senior Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager
• Ken Jamison, appointed Senior Vice President and Group Director, was Senior Vice President, Market Manager of Capital Markets
• Patricia Quint, now Senior Vice President and Group Director at the Bank, was Market Manager of Commercial Deposit Services
• Ryan Zyskowski, appointed Vice President and Relationship Manager, was Vice President-Relationship Manager
• Liam Ryan, a Vice President and Loan Portfolio Manager for Signature Bank, was Vice President-Portfolio Manager
• Kristin Maier, named Assistant Vice President and Associate Loan Portfolio Manager, was Assistant Vice President-Portfolio Manager

Additionally, other appointments to the team include Doreen Schafer, appointed Vice President and Loan Administration Manager. She was a Vice President, Senior Loan Closer at KeyBank prior to joining the Bank; and Eric Halpern, named Senior Vice President and Group Director, held the role of First Senior Vice President, National Head of Healthcare at Bank Leumi USA.

“Signature Bank had been seeking the right opportunity to enter the healthcare banking and finance space for years. Healthcare is a continually evolving and everchanging industry, as baby boomers come of age, people live longer and medical technology advances. All this places an even greater demand for healthcare services, thereby elevating the opportunity for broader lending and finance services. We identified what we believe to be a tremendous and persistent need for commercial healthcare finance nationwide. The time is right, and we welcome Matt and his team as they all bring deep healthcare banking and finance expertise to the Bank as we launch this new national business line,” said Joseph J. DePaolo, Co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Bank.

Huber commented on his new position and the Bank’s formation of its HBF business line: “Signature Bank was looking to develop a de novo healthcare group with the type of specialty my team possesses. The way in which the Bank is structured -- in terms of its focus on relationship-based banking and its single-point-of-contact approach -- was both very impressive and attractive to our team. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial model is enticing for those of us with strong client relationships and solid credit skills. The working culture of the Bank promotes balanced autonomy while also fostering significant opportunities for growth. We are looking forward to the contributions the HBF team will make to the continued success of Signature Bank.”

Signature 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 $121.85 billion in assets and $109.16 billion in deposits as of March 31, 2022. Signature Bank placed 19th on S&P Global’s list of the largest banks in the U.S., based on deposits at year-end 2021.