Flagstar Bank Expands Commercial and Private Banking Leadership Team with Key Executive Appointments

HICKSVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagstar Bank, N.A., the bank subsidiary (the "Bank") of New York Community Bancorp, Inc., (NYSE: NYCB) (the "Company"), announced today the expansion of its Commercial and Private Banking leadership team with the appointment of four accomplished senior executives.

"We are excited to welcome four outstanding new senior executives to our Commercial and Private Banking team," said Joseph Otting, Chairman, President, and CEO, Flagstar Bank. "Their deep expertise and impressive track records are crucial as we enhance our client coverage and advance both our product and commercial capabilities. These new appointments reflect our commitment to delivering personalized experiences and strengthening our Commercial and Private Banking strategy, which is central to our business model."

Joining Flagstar's senior leadership team, reporting to Rich Raffetto, Senior Executive Vice President & President of Commercial and Private Banking, unless otherwise noted, include:

Joe Abruzzo: Executive Vice President and Head of Regional Commercial Banking & Corporate Banking
Joe brings nearly 40 years of experience to Flagstar in commercial, corporate, and private banking. During his over 26-year tenure at JPMorgan, he leveraged his client-focused approach, strong credit risk management foundation, and capital markets expertise to expand the firm's corporate banking businesses in both Commercial Banking and Corporate & Investment Banking. After JPMorgan, he successfully transformed and managed the U.S. Commercial and Private Banking businesses at HSBC and Santander. As an executive leader and member of each bank's management committees, Joe drove business improvement efforts by implementing effective new business development and sales management practices, recruiting top talent, enhancing product capabilities, optimizing expense and capital management, and addressing regulatory compliance gaps.

Most recently, as Head of Commercial Banking at Santander, he managed a national team of over 400 banking and treasury professionals serving the financial needs of more than 3,000 middle-market, mid-corporate, international, government, and not-for-profit clients. Joe is also actively involved in his community as a past honoree and supporter of organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City and the New Jersey PGA Golf Foundation and serving on the boards of the USO and Delivering Good.

Rita Dailey: Executive Vice President, Head of Commercial Deposits & Payment Solutions 
Rita joins Flagstar with 30 years of hands-on client relationship, product design, and leadership experience, with a focus on profitability and strategic growth. Most recently, Rita served as Head of Small and Medium Enterprise Products at Bank of the West where she was instrumental in developing new product strategies. Her background includes senior leadership roles at MUFG Union Bank and BMO/Bank of the West. Rita is actively involved in her community and has served on several boards. She will be based on the East Coast and lead a national team serving commercial, real estate, business banking, and wealth clients.

Mike Mason: Executive Vice President, Head of Credit Products, Commercial and Private Banking
Mike joins Flagstar with more than 30 years of experience in credit risk management, underwriting, credit portfolio strategy, and product development. Before joining Flagstar, Mike served as EVP and Head of Credit Products at City National Bank, where he spearheaded a commercial lending transformation that established a new target operating model for credit delivery. This initiative drove consistency, enhanced controls, reduced operational and credit risk, and achieved significant economic efficiencies. Prior roles include EVP and Head of M&A Integration and Credit Products at Regions Financial, Managing Director and Corporate Banking Lead at Accenture Consulting, and Head of Wholesale Credit Portfolio Strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Mike holds FINRA Series 24, 7, 79, and 63 licenses, as well as nCino LOS Configuration Certifications.

Matt Dalany: Senior Vice President, Head of Specialized Industries Credit Products
Matt joins Flagstar with more than 30 years of experience in specialized industries credit underwriting, risk governance, and portfolio management. From 2017 to 2024, Matt led MUFG's credit underwriting and portfolio management teams in support of its Sponsor Finance, Technology, and Healthcare sectors, and he recently played a key role in synchronizing the credit policies and risk management practices related to the merger with U.S. Bank. Prior, Matt spent over 20 years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in various roles. Notably, he spent ten years as a senior credit products executive, where he led commercial banking portfolio management and underwriting for the western U.S. and specialized sectors such as entertainment, agriculture, and employee-owned companies. Matt will report directly to Mike Mason, EVP, Head of Credit Products, Commercial and Private Banking.

"We are thrilled to welcome these four new senior banking and finance executives," said Rich Raffetto, SEVP and President of Commercial and Private Banking at Flagstar Bank.

"Their arrival marks an advancement in our strategic focus, emphasizing four key areas: providing personalized service, offering expert advice and industry insights, elevating product capabilities, and achieving exceptional credit risk management. With this strengthened leadership team, we are set to advance our client-centric model, drive innovation in product development, and build stronger relationships. The expertise of these new executives will help Flagstar serve new client segments, deliver tailored solutions that significantly benefit our clients, and meet evolving banking and finance needs more effectively."

About New York Community Bancorp, Inc.
New York Community Bancorp, Inc. is the parent company of Flagstar Bank, N.A., one of the largest regional banks in the country. The Company is headquartered in Hicksville, New York. At June 30, 2024, the Company had $119.1 billion of assets, $82.4 billion of loans, deposits of $79.0 billion, and total stockholders' equity of $8.4 billion.

Flagstar Bank, N.A. operates over 400 branches, including a significant presence in the Northeast and Midwest and locations in high growth markets in the Southeast and West Coast. In addition, the Bank has approximately 90 private banking teams located in over 10 cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, which serve the needs of high-net worth individuals and their businesses.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The foregoing disclosures may include forward‐looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws by the Company pertaining to such matters as our goals, intentions, and expectations regarding (a) revenues, earnings, loan production, asset quality, liquidity position, capital levels, risk analysis, divestitures, acquisitions, and other material transactions, among other matters; (b) the future costs and benefits of the actions we may take; (c) our assessments of credit risk and probable losses on loans and associated allowances and reserves; (d) our assessments of interest rate and other market risks; (e) our ability to execute on our strategic plan, including the sufficiency of our internal resources, procedures and systems; (f) our ability to attract, incentivize, and retain key personnel and the roles of key personnel; (g) our ability to achieve our financial and other strategic goals, including those related to our merger with Flagstar Bancorp, Inc., which was completed on December 1, 2022, our acquisition of substantial portions of the former Signature Bank through an FDIC-assisted transaction, and our ability to fully and timely implement the risk management programs institutions greater than $100 billion in assets must maintain; (h) the effect on our capital ratios of the approval of certain proposals approved by our shareholders during our 2024 annual meeting of shareholders; (i) the conversion or exchange of shares of the Company's preferred stock; (j) the payment of dividends on shares of the Company's capital stock, including adjustments to the amount of dividends payable on shares of the Company's preferred stock; (k) the availability of equity and dilution of existing equity holders associated with amendments to the 2020 Omnibus Incentive Plan; and (l) the terms associated with, and potential future grants of, employment inducement award grants.

Forward‐looking statements are typically identified by such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "outlook," "estimate," "forecast," "project," "should," and other similar words and expressions, and are subject to numerous assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, which change over time. Additionally, forward‐looking statements speak only as of the date they are made; the Company does not assume any duty, and does not undertake, to update our forward‐looking statements. Furthermore, because forward‐looking statements are subject to assumptions and uncertainties, actual results or future events could differ, possibly materially, from those anticipated in our statements, and our future performance could differ materially from our historical results.

Our forward‐looking statements are subject to, among others, the following principal risks and uncertainties: general economic conditions and trends, either nationally or locally; conditions in the securities, credit and financial markets; changes in interest rates; the inability of the Bank and Nationstar to execute the transaction contemplated by the MSR Purchase Agreement and Asset Purchase Agreement or satisfy customary closing conditions; changes in deposit flows, and in the demand for deposit, loan, and investment products and other financial services; changes in real estate values; changes in the quality or composition of our loan or investment portfolios, including associated allowances and reserves; changes in future allowance for credit losses requirements under relevant accounting and regulatory requirements; the ability to pay future dividends; changes in our capital management and balance sheet strategies and our ability to successfully implement such strategies; changes in our strategic plan, including changes in our internal resources, procedures and systems, and our ability to successfully implement such plan; changes in competitive pressures among financial institutions or from non‐financial institutions; changes in legislation, regulations, and policies; the success of our blockchain and fintech activities, investments and strategic partnerships; the restructuring of our mortgage business; the impact of failures or disruptions in or breaches of the Company's operational or security systems, data or infrastructure, or those of third parties, including as a result of cyberattacks or campaigns; the impact of natural disasters, extreme weather events, military conflict (including the Russia/Ukraine conflict, the conflict in Israel and surrounding areas, the possible expansion of such conflicts and potential geopolitical consequences), terrorism or other geopolitical events; and a variety of other matters which, by their nature, are subject to significant uncertainties and/or are beyond our control. Our forward-looking statements are also subject to the following principal risks and uncertainties with respect to our merger with Flagstar Bancorp, which was completed on December 1, 2022, and our acquisition of substantial portions of the former Signature Bank through an FDIC-assisted transaction: the possibility that the anticipated benefits of the transactions will not be realized when expected or at all; the possibility of increased legal and compliance costs, including with respect to any litigation or regulatory actions related to the business practices of acquired companies or the combined business; diversion of management's attention from ongoing business operations and opportunities; the possibility that the Company may be unable to achieve expected synergies and operating efficiencies in or as a result of the transactions within the expected timeframes or at all; and revenues following the transactions may be lower than expected. Additionally, there can be no assurance that the Community Benefits Agreement entered into with NCRC, which was contingent upon the closing of the Company's merger with Flagstar Bancorp, Inc., will achieve the results or outcome originally expected or anticipated by us as a result of changes to our business strategy, performance of the U.S. economy, or changes to the laws and regulations affecting us, our customers, communities we serve, and the U.S. economy (including, but not limited to, tax laws and regulations).

More information regarding some of these factors is provided in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10‐K/A for the year ended December 31, 2023, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, and in other SEC reports we file. Our forward‐looking statements may also be subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those we may discuss in this release, during investor presentations, or in our SEC filings, which are accessible on our website and at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.

Investor Contact:
Salvatore J. DiMartino
(516) 683-4286

Media Contact:
Nicole Yelland
(248) 219-9234