Sterling National Bank Expands Into Public Finance Sector

MONTEBELLO, NY--(Marketwired - March 09, 2015) - Sterling National Bank, the principal subsidiary of Sterling Bancorp (NYSE: STL), announced today that it has established a new sales team with significant experience in the U.S. public finance market. This new team, which has joined Sterling from Green Campus Partners, LLC (GCP), a direct lender to government, not-for-profit healthcare, and higher educational institutions, brings expertise that will help the Bank generate holistic relationships with municipal and government clients.

"With the addition of this outstanding team of public finance experts, we will be able to expand our heritage of highly personalized service into a lending segment that we have only peripherally addressed in the past," said Jim Peoples, Chief Banking Officer at Sterling. "We feel strongly that the sizable public finance market presents a significant opportunity for growth and substantial fee income."

The team includes:

• Michael Horkey, Senior Managing Director - Horkey was formerly President and Co-founder of GCP, where his team successfully funded and syndicated nearly $1 billion of public finance related loans and leases. Previously, he was with Banc of America Public Capital Corp., where he served as senior vice president in their specialty governmental energy finance group. He has more than 25 years of public finance experience.
• David Roeder, Managing Director - Roeder was Managing Director at GCP, where he was responsible for initial credit due diligence for government clients, transaction structuring, documentation, and syndications to institutional investors. He also served as Transaction Manager in the energy services group of Banc of America Public Capital Corp. Roeder has more than 25 years of experience in underwriting, funding and syndication.
• Scott Kuhn, Assistant Managing Director - Formerly Vice President at GCP, Kuhn has focused on business development, working directly with governmental units and providing energy related equipment funding solutions. He was previously a founding partner at financial advisory firm R2E Partners, LLC, and has specialized in providing financing for energy related assets in the public sector for more than 25 years.
• Scott Pinckard, Assistant Managing Director - Pinckard was Vice President at GCP. In this capacity, he managed business development across the federal and public housing energy efficiency sectors, including originations, pricing, structuring and the syndication of financings. Formerly, he was a vice president at Grant Capital Management, Inc., where he was responsible for tax-exempt lease and loan production and syndications.

"The public finance sector is highly complementary to our existing specialty finance business lines, so the addition of this team is a natural extension of our services from a strategic standpoint. Moreover, the team possesses deep industry knowledge and is dedicated to delivering the kind of highly personalized service that has become our hallmark," added David Bagatelle, President - New York Metro Markets at Sterling. 

"We are very excited to be joining Sterling at a time of rapid growth for the organization," said Horkey. "We look forward to working closely with Jim, David and the executive team to drive the business forward, grow the public finance business, and bring new, innovative solutions to the table for clients."

About Sterling National Bank
Sterling National Bank, the principal subsidiary of Sterling Bancorp, specializes in the delivery of service and solutions to business owners, their families, and consumers within the communities we serve through teams of dedicated relationship managers. Sterling National Bank offers a complete line of commercial, business, and consumer banking products and services. For more information, visit www.snb.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may concern Sterling's current expectations about its future results, plans, operations and prospects and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including inflation; the effects of, and changes in, trade; changes in asset quality and credit risk; introduction, withdrawal, success and timing of business initiatives; capital management activities; customer disintermediation; and the success of Sterling at managing these risks. Other factors that could cause Sterling's actual results to differ from those indicated in forward-looking statements are included in the "Risk Factors" section of Sterling's securities filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included herein are only made as of the date hereof, and Sterling specifically disclaims any obligation to update these statements in the future.