Off The Cuff

Old video shows Signature Bank executives boasting it will never fail

March 15, 2023
Bharat Times

Signature Bank had 40 branches across the United States.

Days after Signature Bank was shut down by New York-based lender regulators, old videos of the time its executive promoted his new financial institution have resurfaced online. One of the clips shows the bank’s co-founder Scott Shay, CEO Joseph Depolo and others talking about starting a new bank. new york post, Some officials tell Mr Shay that it is “the stupidest idea ever” and even quip that it “might fall short and fail”. After 22 years in business, Signature Bank collapsed on Sunday and was taken over by the FDIC, the federal agency in the US that insures bank deposits.

The video was posted to Twitter by money manager and Substack blogger Genevieve Roch-Decter.

“Look, we’re going to make this work if we start a bank from scratch,” Mr Shay is heard telling fellow executives as the video begins.

“From the beginning?” John Tamberlane, the bank’s vice chairman, responded. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“How in the world do you do that?” asks Joseph DePaolo, CEO of Signature. “Is there a book ‘How to Bank for Dummies?'”

They then banker talk about “we’ll have to make our own mistakes” and “we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves”, before breaking into a song saying “the stupidest idea ever that I’ve ever heard”.

“We’re tired of the major bank stink so let’s start one? This is absurd,” the three bankers sing. “What a terrible proposition – like persuading the world to eat kale,” they add with a chorus.

“What would be the likely fate of our bank other than going under and failing?” The other actors ask if they can predict what will happen to Signature Bank.

Mr. Shay then turns around and triumphantly tells them, “I know that won’t happen.”

They end by promising “built to last and thrill”.

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Ms. Roach-Decter posted the video, tweeting, “Is it any wonder Signature Bank failed? Their executive team spent millions of dollars making music videos and TV shows about themselves. Given this effort Don’t.”

In another tweet she said: “From someone I know who worked at Signature Bank for years: The management team was basically like the show, The Office. They wasted money on things like making parody videos. “

Don’t know when these videos were made but according to new york postThey were uploaded to YouTube nine years ago.

Signature Bank is the second bank to collapse in the US after Silicon Valley Bank. Signature Bank had 40 branches nationwide – New York, California, Connecticut, North Carolina and Nevada.

According to the US government, it had total assets of $110.4 billion and total deposits of $82.6 billion as of December 31, 2022.

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