Signature Bank names new private client banking team

Signature Bank, a New York-based full-service commercial bank, has appointed its seventh private client banking team this year. The team will be based at the bank's Melville, N.Y. office on Long Island. The team joins Signature Bank from North Fork Bank's Melville, N.Y. location. George Klett, who will head the team, was named group director, executive vice president and chairman of Signature Bank's newly created commercial real estate committee. Klett, with 34 years of expertise in banking and real estate, spent the past 12 years of his career with North Fork Bank, serving as executive vice president and overseeing a commercial and multifamily mortgage loan portfolio in excess of $12 billion. Other group directors joining the Klett team at Signature Bank as senior vice presidents (all of whom have worked with him for the past nine years at their former institution) include: Paul Fritz, who was a senior vice president and senior underwriter; John Zieran, formerly vice president; and Walter Malek, a 39-year financial services industry veteran, most recently was a senior vice president. Also joining the team are three associate group directors and vice presidents: Zachary Bermudez, Eileen Dignam and Joseph Fingerman, who all bring numerous years of banking experience and have worked directly with Klett in their previous roles. To further support the team and manage additional commercial real estate operations in Melville, Signature Bank named Veronica Vega to the post of senior vice president.