Signature Bank of Georgia’s founder and CEO is spreading the word that the Sandy Springs-based bank is not affiliated with the similar-named New York financial institution recently closed by regulators.
Silicon Valley Bank of California was closed on March 10 by the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation and Signature Bank of New York was closed on March 12 by the New York State Department of Financial Services, the FDIC reported.
Signature Bank of Georgia is not involved in cryptocurrency or venture capital, which CEO Charlie Brown said were two issues that brought down one of the banks that made national news.
Brown said Signature Bank of Georgia’s liquidity is three times the typical regulatory target. Liquidity and capital were problems for those closed banks, he said.
The Sandy Springs bank also has twice the “well capitalized” regulatory target amount. At the conclusion of its current capital campaign, he expects its capital to be three times what’s required to be considered “well capitalized.”
Signature Bank of Georgia sent out an email to its clients notifying them the bank is not affiliated with the New York bank or any other similarly named bank, he said. The executive team put together the bank’s message, and staff directly contacted the largest customers on Monday morning, which Brown said gave the bank a chance to shine.
“In fact, we ended up taking in more net new deposits, because of our counseling to the customers and showing them how they could increase their FDIC insurance titling,” he said.
The bank has been growing since 2005, and after retrenching a bit during the Great Recession. Signature Bank of Georgia Executive Vice Chairman Freddie Deutsch said opening a community bank had been his dream.
He called himself a refugee from a regional bank, having left Wachovia when it completed its South Trust transition. He didn’t want to be part of a large bank that left him without the ability to make decisions.
Deutsch started working on his dream without directors or capital but managed to gain both in 2005.
As the bank was preparing to open its Sandy Springs location, he said it got caught up in the formation of the City of Sandy Springs, which set it back in the permitting process.
“Our timing probably wasn’t the best to start a community bank on the edge of a meltdown in the financial services industry, but we worked extremely hard over those periods of time, and we survived,” Deutsch said.
Ninety-three other community banks failed, he said.
Signature Bank of Georgia’s vision has been to be part of the community and be a Small Business Administration bank.
“That’s what our bread and butter is today – lending to small and medium-sized businesses. We are a preferred provider with the SBA. So that gives us delegated authority to make decisions on behalf of the SBA,” he said.
Clients get to talk directly to the decision-makers, which he said a lot of business owners take comfort with that.
In July 2018 the bank had $55 million in loans. Today it is at about $137 million, Deutsch said.
Brown said the bank’s total assets are up to the $200 million range. Its growth continues with its new capital campaign and with the addition of four relationship managers.
