Another top NYCB executive hits the road as overhaul continues

Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

New York Community Bancorp's executive team is changing again. 

Julie Signorille-Browne, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, resigned from the $112.9 billion-asset company, effective May 24, per a regulatory filing. Signorille-Browne, who's held leadership roles at New York Community since 2021, leaves the bank as it undergoes an overhaul that's led to the turnover of half of its leadership team in the last three months.

New York Community didn't announce who would take Signorille-Browne's place. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

CEO Joseph Otting, who took over April 1, said on the Long Island-based company's earnings call a month later that this would be a "transitional year" for New York Community. He also argued that the firm's new board of directors, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and its refreshed management team would be able to steer the bank back to profitability. Otting and Mnuchin previously teamed up to turn around the failed IndyMac Bank after the 2008 financial crisis, eventually selling that company for a profit.

"We've done this before," Otting said on New York Community's first-quarter earnings call. "And we feel we can do it again."

Signorille-Browne, 60, was appointed COO last September after climbing the operations leadership ladder for two years. Notably, she led the integration of Flagstar Bank, which New York Community bought in 2022, and was responsible for the integration of the 2023 purchase of assets and liabilities of the failed Signature Bank. 

Those two acquisitions propelled the company past $100 billion of assets, a benchmark that triggered enhanced regulatory scrutiny. That scrutiny has been problematic. The bank recently switched its primary regulator from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Otting said on the company's recent earnings call that New York Community was "not ready to be regulated" by the OCC, which he led during the Trump administration.

When Signorille-Browne was named COO last year, then-President and CEO Thomas Cangemi said in a prepared statement that Signorille-Browne had been "a key part of the executive leadership team and been integral to our success."

Since the two acquisitions, the company has bled Signature and Flagstar employees, who have been scooped up by competitors. 

The bank also appears to be moving on from certain business lines. This week, New York Community sold its $5 billion book of loans in the mortgage warehouse business. Flagstar had built that business into the nation's second largest after JPMorgan Chase, which is buying the portfolio.

Commercial lending

NYCB lays out revised strategy while warning of more near-term pain

The embattled Long Island bank unveiled a turnaround plan that involves selling noncore assets and diversifying its commercial loan book. But first, it will need to sort through credit-related challenges in its large commercial real estate portfolio.

By Polo Rocha

May 1

As COO, Signorille-Browne oversaw all of New York Community's operations, including retail and commercial deposit and lending, corporate real estate, vendor management, human resources and technology.

Signorille-Browne was an "at-will" employee, meaning that she could choose to leave at any time for any legal reason, and New York Community could also oust her for any legal reason, not requiring "just cause," the company disclosed in a public filing last fall. Her base salary was $600,000, and her eligibility for cash bonuses and awards was determined by the firm's compensation committee. 

Under the terms of Signorille-Browne's hiring in 2021, New York Community also agreed to pay some severance following a potential "change in control event." It's unclear why she resigned, or whether she'll receive any payments from the company.

She came to New York Community after serving as COO for consumer banking at Citizens Bank, and after leading the 2016 integration of KeyCorp's acquisition of First Niagara Bank.

With her departure, New York Community now has four women on its 15-person leadership team. 

New York Community began spiraling earlier this year after reporting earnings losses and rising risks in its hefty commercial real estate loan book. The bank's stock fell some 80% in six weeks before Mnuchin led a group that made a $1 billion capital infusion and began to clean house, tapping Otting as CEO.

The bank has since begun to stabilize, but its value is still down about 65% since the beginning of the year.