Chicago City Wire

Signature Bank Illinois is Rosemont-based, privately-held and serves mostly Midwestern small and medium sized businesses.

Signature Bank New York is New York City-based, traded publicly and best known for its work lending to cryptocurrency firms, on the east and west coasts.

That these two firms share nothing else in common but a name became newsworthy Friday, as trading was halted on the New York Signature Bank over liquidity concerns.

A statement by Signature Bank Illinois Sunday sought to clarify that the two banks aren’t related in any way.

“Acknowledging the week’s banking news, there continues to be some industry concerns, particularly as it relates to commercial banks involved with crypto finance. In fact, you may have heard the name 'Signature Bank New York' mentioned in relation to that controversy,” it said. “We want to assure you that Signature Bank Illinois is a completely separate entity with no relation at all to Signature Bank New York, and we have no cryptocurrency exposure.”

“In fact, Signature Bank Illinois is coming off a record year and is poised for continued success and momentum in 2023,” the statement said.

Signature Bank New York completed an Initial Public Offering in 2004. The bank was founded by Joseph J. DePaolo, Scott A. Shay and John Tamberlane.

Earlier today, the U.S. Treasury Department, FDIC, and Federal Reserve jointly announced that Signature Bank New York "was closed today by its state chartering authority" for "systemic risk."

Signature Bank Illinois was founded by Mick O’Rourke, Kevin Bastuga and Bryan Duncan. The bank is privately held, and was listed at number fifteen on Crain's Chicago Business 2022 list of largest banks in Chicago.

On the March 12, 2023 edition of ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," a story about Signature Bank New York incorrectly featured a graphic containing the logo of Signature Bank Illinois.

"This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News incorrectly used our Signature Bank logo in reference to the issues facing Signature Bank New York." tweeted Signature Bank Illinois. "There's no affiliation between the two organizations and our Signature Bank is stronger than ever and has no cryptocurrency exposure."

Chicago radio host Dan Proft tweeted that the use of Signature Bank Illinois was "fake news from @ABC."

"Typical financial sector illiteracy combined w/ the failure to fact-check," said Proft, host of AM 560’s Chicago’s Morning Answer. "ABC owes @SignatureBnkChi, a strong, privately-owned, locally-run bank, a retraction and apology for mistaking their logo for that of Signature Bank of NY's. Entirely different banks."

As of the publication of this story, ABC News had not issued a public retraction or apology.

Story was updated to include the joint announcement of the closure of Signature Bank New York.