Provident Bank, a subsidiary of Provident New York Bancorp, announced it has formed a new commercial banking team from the former Gotham Bank of New York in the New York City metro market.

William Rossi was named senior managing director and will lead this team with the assistance of Gabriel Sadfie, who joined Provident Bank in January 2012 as managing director. Rossi has over 35 years of experience in commercial banking in New York City and had served as Gotham Bank’s chief credit officer since 2001. Safdie has over 20 years in banking and was previously a senior vice president, private banking at Capital One/North Fork Bank.

Five seasoned commercial bankers complete the new team. Neil Zimberg, Frank Puccio, Frank Colluccio and Gary Solomon were each named managing director. Melvin Altman was named associate managing director.

This new team will operate out of the midtown Manhattan office and focus on serving legacy Gotham Bank clients as well as growing their middle-market and private client base.

To read the full Provident Bank news release, click here.