Although the focus in reporting of the failure of US bank Signature Bank has been on the bank’s cryptocurrency business, until it embarked on that adventure the bank’s main area of business was real estate. It was a significant player in the US real estate market, and a large and important player in the New York haredi community. It was the sponsor of a large real estate conference held in Brooklyn last year.
The bank, which was owned by Bank Hapoalim when it started out and became the first Israeli controlled bank to be floated on Nasdaq, focused on real estate for most of its years in business, and only recently turned to cryptocurrency. "The bank had substantial real estate activity, and this raised fears among some of our customers," said Doron Cohen, CEO of Covercy, a fintech company that specializes in real estate management and banking solutions for the industry. "Following the bank’s closure, and as a company that offers digital banking solutions for the real estate industry, we are in touch with many industry players to help them find a new, safe solution," Cohen added.
According to various sources, it was not just US customers who were exposed to Signature Bank: Israeli real estate companies and large Israeli investors in real estate were also among the bank’s customers. They are naturally not keen to be named until the storm passes.
Since the US government has announced that it will provide a safety net for Signature Bank depositors, the risk to these customers’ money has in any case considerably lessened.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 14, 2023.
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