The new team is made up of five colleagues from the Popular Community Bank in Manhattan.

Signature Bank, a New York-based firm, has appointed a new private client banking team. The team has worked together at various financial institutions over the past decade.

Indira Thomas-Maharaj, group director and senior vice president will head up a new five-person team based at the bank’s Midtown Manhattan private client banking office, located at 261 Madison Avenue, the firm said in a statement.

Maharaj has 17 years of experience within the banking sector. She recently served as senior vice president and director of middle market and business banking at Popular Community Bank in Manhattan.

Joining Maharaj, in the role of vice president and associate group director are Gregory D’Orazio, Dustin Gash and Shiraz Kenny Mohammed. Also joining the firm is Andrea Smith, who was named senior client associate-officer.

D’Orazio joins from Capital One in Floral Park, where he was a senior relationship manager, working with private banking clients.

Gash was an international commercial relationship banker and vice president at HSBC in midtown Manhattan before joining Signature Bank. In this role, he managed a portfolio of private clients. 

Mohammed was previously an assistant vice president, relationship/portfolio manager at Popular Community Bank in lower Manhattan working with private clients.

Smith, with more than 12 years of banking experience, was an analyst in strategic planning for Popular Community Bank in lower Manhattan for two years. 

“We remain focused on identifying experienced bankers in the industry as we further expand our private client banking team network, which has now grown to 100 teams,” said Joseph DePaolo, co-founder, president and chief executive. “Indira and her team have worked together over the past 10 years, and here at Signature Bank, they look forward to establishing a strong team serving a diverse client base of commercial clients engaged in manufacturing, wholesaling and distribution as well as professional services and non-profit entities," DePaolo said.

"We are always seeking to add veteran banking teams in keeping with our founding relationship-based model and single-point-of-contact client approach, which continues to distinguish Signature Bank amid a crowded commercial banking arena," he added.