Dec 19, 2018   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Signature Bank’s Proprietary Digital Payments Platform, Signet™, Selected by American PowerNet to Facilitate Real-Time Payments for Renewable Energy Industry

Signature Bank (Nasdaq: SBNY), a New York-based full-service commercial bank, announced today that its digital payments platform, Signet™, which enables real-time payments for its commercial clients, was selected by American PowerNet, an independent power supply company providing retail and wholesale electric supply services throughout the U.S., to facilitate real-time payments within the renewable energy sector. This is the first time this energy segment is adopting a blockchain-based platform to conduct transactions involving the transfer of and payment for power.

Through its banking relationship with Signature Bank, American PowerNet, an independent energy management company developing and providing wholesale electric procurement services to large retail clients, selected Signet as the payments platform for its renewable energy customers. Signet affords American PowerNet the ability to settle with power generators on a daily basis once schedules are confirmed, compared with the traditional 30-day payment structure that has long been the industry standard. American PowerNet is offering the first end-to-end blockchain-enabled platform for purchasing and delivering renewable energy, Verde Blocks, marking a revolutionary shift industrywide. Signet’s role in this platform is to facilitate payments for the delivery of energy.

“We are pleased American PowerNet is leveraging Signet to serve as the payments mechanism for Verde Blocks, an integrated blockchain-enabled solution. Pairing a blockchain delivery platform, Verde Blocks, with a blockchain payments platform, Signet, to make the end-to-end process of purchasing renewable energy significantly more efficient, is truly groundbreaking,” explained Joseph J. DePaolo, President and Chief Executive Officer at Signature Bank.

“This is just one application of the Signet Platform, which we are confident will be adopted and valued by other ecosystems across various industries,” DePaolo said.

R. Scott Helm, Chief Executive Officer at American PowerNet, commented on his company’s adoption of Signet: “We wanted to build a tool -- not a token -- that would aid American PowerNet in both the purchasing and payments sides of the renewable energy business. To meet this goal, we identified Signature Bank’s Signet as the most secure way to settle in U.S. dollars in real-time without introducing currency risk into the ecosystem. Signets, by design, cannot fluctuate in value; they maintain their 1:1 relationship to USD at all times. Using a USD blockchain-based payments platform such as Signet signals a transformation throughout the renewable energy space as it streamlines a process within a multi-billion industry that hasn’t witnessed change in decades. Furthermore, the ability to transact in real-time with funds held by Signature Bank instills a new level of confidence for companies to participate on the Signet Platform.”

The Signet Platform leverages blockchain technology in its architecture, allowing Signature Bank’s commercial clients to make payments in U.S. dollars 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Transactions made on the Signet Platform settle in real time, are safe and secure, and incur no transaction fees. Participation in Signet requires an average monthly account balance of $250,000. Typically, in the case of real-time payments, funds are transferred between two different institutions. With Signet, funds are transferred in real-time between commercial clients of Signature Bank, eliminating any dependence on a third party.

About Signature Bank

Signature Bank, member FDIC, is a New York-based full-service commercial bank with 30 private client offices throughout the New York metropolitan area, including those in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Westchester, Long Island, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and Connecticut. In 2018, the Bank expanded its footprint on the West Coast with the opening of its first full-service private client banking office in San Francisco. The Bank’s growing network of private client banking teams serves the needs of privately owned businesses, their owners and senior managers.

Signature Bank’s specialty finance subsidiary, Signature Financial, LLC, provides equipment finance and leasing. Signature Securities Group Corporation, a wholly owned Bank subsidiary, is a licensed broker-dealer, investment adviser and member FINRA/SIPC, offering investment, brokerage, asset management and insurance products and services.

Since commencing operations in May 2001, the Bank has grown to $45.87 billion in assets, $35.13 billion in loans, $36.09 billion in deposits, $4.24 billion in equity capital and $3.66 billion in other assets under management as of September 30, 2018. Signature Bank's Tier 1 and risk-based capital ratios are significantly above the levels required to be considered well capitalized.

Signature Bank is ranked the 40th largest bank in the U.S. from nearly 6,000, based on deposits (SNL Financial). The Bank recently earned several third-party recognitions, including: appeared on Forbes' Best Banks in America list for the eighth consecutive year in 2018; named Best Business Bank, Best Private Bank and Best Attorney Escrow Services provider by the New York Law Journal in the publication’s annual “Best of” survey for 2018, earning it a place in the New York Law Journal’s Hall of Fame, awarded to companies that have ranked in the “Best of” Survey for at least three of the past four years.

For more information, please visit www.signatureny.com.

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