The firm has hired two teams of managers in its private banking business.

US-listed Signature Bank has appointed two new private banking teams.

Anne Kelny Denebeim, named group director and senior vice president, leads a three-person team, based out of the bank’s headquarters in Midtown Manhattan and San Francisco. Denebeim, a banker with more than four decades of experience, will spend her time between New York City and San Francisco. She previously served as managing director, preferred banking, at First Republic Bank in San Francisco for 16 years. She also held cash management roles at The Pacific Bank and Manufacturers Hanover Trust, among others.

Other team members are Michael Ahmed, associated group director, and Jennifer Choi, who will serve as senior client associate. Ahmed, with 13 years of banking experience, was formerly district manager-managing director at First Republic Bank in New York City for five years. Earlier, he spent eight years at Citibank as both a personal and business banker as well as branch manager. Choi previously spent seven years at First Republic Bank as a preferred banker, based in San Francisco. She also worked at Bank of America as a personal banker for seven years prior to this.

The firm has also appointed Monica Vargas and James Yu as group directors and senior vice presidents. They will co-lead a five-person team that has worked together for nearly five years at Citibank. The team will be based at the bank’s private client office at 485 Madison Avenue in New York City.

This publication has contacted Signature about its private banking strategy; the bank - founded about 16 years ago - has made a number of hires in recent years. Last year, the lender launched an investment advisory and wealth management division, Signature Chicago Wealth Management.

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Vargas, bringing 15 years of financial-related experience to her new role, most recently was a Citigold relationship manager in Midtown Manhattan, where she focused on catering to the high-net-worth client portfolio she built. She also was a vice president and financial advisor at JP Morgan Securities and M&T Investment Group previously.

Yu was vice president and branch manager for a Midtown Manhattan Citibank branch and earlier, a sales manager at the institution’s world headquarters in New York City, spending nearly eight years there. His concentration lies in serving commercial clients, such as investment companies, physicians, charitable organizations and high-net-worth individuals.

Cranston A Humphrey, Safraz Deen and Kristina Kozikott join the Vargas-Yu team as associate group directors and vice presidents. Humphrey, with 11 years of banking experience, also was a Citigold relationship manager at his former institution. He worked at the Citibank global flagship branch at 399 Park Avenue in New York City, primarily focusing on providing wealth management services for a portfolio of high-net-worth clients. Earlier, he was a private client Banker at JP Morgan.

Deen was a branch manager at Citibank’s 200 Park Avenue branch for 12 years before joining Signature Bank. 

For the past four years, Kozikott was a Citigold relationship manager based at a Midtown Manhattan branch, where she focused on wealth management for the affluent client base. During her 10-year banking career, she was a private client Banker at JP Morgan Chase in New York City and operations specialist at CapitalOne on Long Island.

“Both teams bring extensive experience to our banking network and represent the exact types of veteran banking professionals that thrive at Signature Bank. These professionals prefer our single-point-of-contact approach, which affords them a distinct client-centric platform from which to conduct their banking practices for the benefit of their clients,” Joseph J. DePaolo, co-founder, president and chief executive at Signature Bank.

The bank, which started operations in May 2001, has $40.72 billion in assets, $30.39 billion in loans, $33.17 billion in deposits, $3.80 billion in equity capital and $3.63 billion in other assets under management as of June 30, 2017.