Signature Bank announced the appointment of two executives, effective May 13, 2013. EVP and CFO Eric R. Howell and SVP and controller Vito Susca assume their new positions as executive vice president-Corporate & Business Development and senior vice president and chief financial officer, respectively.

In this role, Howell will devote more time to assisting in client acquisition and promoting the Signature Bank client experience of being financially well cared for. He will become increasingly more involved in the recruiting and expansion of the bank’s private client banking teams and development of new offices. Also, Howell will increase his involvement in assisting both Signature Financial, the bank’s specialty finance unit and Signature Securities’ Small Business Administration (SBA) Pool Assembling business. Lastly, he will retain oversight of investor relations.

Howell, who joined the bank in 2000, has served as CFO since November 2004. Prior, he was VP of Finance and controller. Earlier in his career, he was an associate managing director at Republic National Bank of New York.

Before joining the bank in March 2004, Susca held various positions at Republic National Bank of New York, which he joined in 1991, and then, HSBC Bank USA/HSBC Securities, following the acquisition of Republic by HSBC. Roles Susca held include vice president and deputy controller in the Derivative Products Group and vice president in the Global Trading Operations Financial Control group. He was also first vice president and deputy manager in Treasury Finance for HSBC Bank USA/HSBC Securities.

“Based upon Signature Bank’s growth during the past several years, we realized the need to further strengthen our senior management team to seize additional opportunities in business development and to support future endeavors,” explained President and chief executive officer Joseph J. DePaolo.