NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANCORP, INC. FURTHER STRENGTHENS LEADERSHIP TEAM WITH NEW EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT APPOINTMENTS

HICKSVILLE, N.Y., July 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagstar Bank, N.A., the bank subsidiary (the "Bank") of New York Community Bancorp, Inc., (NYSE:NYCB) (the "Company"), announced today the appointment of nine seasoned leaders to its leadership team, effective immediately. These additions further enhance the Company's oversight of core businesses and client-focused operations, bringing a blend of financial, commercial, private banking, IT, credit, and regulatory pedigree to the organization.

Joseph Otting, Chairman, President, and CEO, commented on the new appointments, "Driving progress, growth, and long-term stakeholder value requires a vision and the right leadership team to execute against that plan. Welcoming these new senior leaders, who possess specialized and unique skill sets, underscores our commitment to excellence and the strategic transformation currently underway. Their collective wealth of experience will be instrumental in enhancing our focus on exceptional service, operational efficiency, and positioning the company for sustainable growth."

Joining the leadership team as direct reports to Otting (unless otherwise noted) are:

• Richard Raffetto, SEVP, President of Commercial and Private Banking: Rich joins Flagstar Bank with more than 30 years' experience in the banking industry, and more than 20 years serving in executive leadership positions and building commercial, corporate, and private banking teams. From 2020 to 2024, Rich served as President and Director of City National Bank, the U.S. commercial and private banking subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada. He most recently led their commercial lines of business and products, including its leasing, treasury management, payments, and capital markets units. Prior to that, Rich spent approximately 13 years at U.S. Bank in senior roles in its commercial and corporate banking organization, and 14 years at BNY Mellon in its corporate banking client management unit.
  
  
  
  
• Kris Gagnon, SEVP, Chief Credit Officer: Kris brings more than 35 years of banking leadership experience to the team having spent 30 years at Bank of America in various senior leadership roles, including as Enterprise Credit Risk Executive, Chief Risk Officer of the Global Corporate and Commercial Bank, and Chief Credit Officer for the Commercial Banking, Leasing and Global Treasury Services Division. Following those roles, Kris served as Chief Credit Officer at Banc of California and CIT Bank (formerly known as OneWest Bank).
  
  
  
  
• Adam Feit, EVP, and Head of Specialized Industries Banking and Capital Markets: Adam brings over 20 years of experience covering and advising clients, structuring and underwriting deals, and leading teams in global corporate and investment banking, capital markets, mid-cap banking, middle market banking and business banking. In this role, he will lead the client coverage and expansion efforts across industry verticals and capital markets products. Most recently, he served as Managing Director and Head of Specialized Industries at U.S. Bank (formerly MUFG Union Bank). Prior to his time with U.S. Bank, he worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as an SVP in Global Commercial Banking and VP in Global Corporate and Investment Banking. Adam will report to Rich Raffetto, President of Commercial and Private Banking.
  
  
  
  
• William Fitzgerald, EVP, Head of Workout-Commercial: William brings more than 30 years of experience as a senior banking executive with expertise in commercial real estate, loan management, asset management, and financial restructuring and recovery. Most recently, he served as SVP, Head of Commercial Real Estate Resolution at First Citizens Bank, where he established and built the commercial real estate restructuring group to manage the non-owner-occupied classified real estate across the bank. His prior roles include SVP, Head of Problem Loan Management at First Citizens Bank, and Managing Director, Regional Head Special Asset Management at Rabobank North America Wholesale. Earlier in his career, he was with ABN AMRO Bank as Group SVP with global restructuring responsibilities. He will report to Chief Credit Officer Kris Gagnon.
  
  
  
  
• Don Howard, EVP, Director of Regulatory Governance, Risk & Controls: Don brings more than 30 years' experience as a senior executive, consultant, regulator, and Board Member with experience in global risk management, credit, compliance, and strategy. Most recently he served as Managing Director, Compliance Global Transformation Lead at Citibank, where he led all Federal Reserve and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) work focused on Governance, Risk and Compliance. Prior roles include Chief Compliance Officer at USAA, and Chief Risk Officer at S&P Global. Earlier in his career, he spent more than 15 years at Bank of America as Managing Director, Structured Credit Product, Portfolio Management.
  
  
  
  
• Sydney Menefee, EVP, Senior Director, Strategic Financial & Capital Management: Sydney brings over 20 years of experience as an executive leader in the financial services industry with expertise in complex bank regulation, accounting, and financial reporting matters. In this role, Sydney will focus on the bank's strategic, capital, and financial planning functions. Most recently, she was a partner at Crowe LLP, a public accounting, consulting, and technology firm. Prior roles include Senior Deputy Comptroller for Midsize and Community Bank Supervision, Deputy Comptroller and Chief Accountant, and National Bank Examiner at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Sydney will report to Chief Financial Officer, Craig Gifford.
  
  
  
  
• Robert Phelps, EVP, Special Advisor to the CEO: He is a former OCC executive, where he held several senior leadership roles in bank supervision. In this role, Bob will support the continued enhancement of Flagstar's IT capabilities working closely with existing IT leadership. During his 30-year tenure with the OCC, his roles included Chair of the National Risk Committee, Deputy Comptroller of Supervision Risk Management, and leading the creation of the Supervision System and Analytics Support Division. Bob provided oversight of the OCC's supervisory data and systems upgrade. He also served as the OCC's Director for Critical Infrastructure Policy, overseeing development of a cybersecurity supervisory policy and coordination with other financial regulators. Bob is a retired U.S. Navy Commander and served in several major operations. He supports the Naval Academy as a Blue and Gold Officer. He is also a certified coach, supporting leaders to achieve more professionally and personally.
  
  
  
  
• Bryan Hubbard, SVP, Senior Regulatory Program Manager: Bryan brings more than 30 years of experience in providing strategic counsel to CEOs and senior federal officials focusing on media relations, regulatory affairs, policy, and reputation. At Flagstar, Bryan will focus on enhancing regulatory relationships, communication, and remediation efforts. Most recently, he served as the Deputy Comptroller for Public Affairs at the OCC where he led strategic communication and public affairs for the agency overseeing a $15 trillion federal banking system. His service at the OCC spanned four presidential administrations, periods of growth, recession, and crisis. Prior roles include serving in senior positions in the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, and in the private sector.
  
  
  
  
• Tom Lyons, SVP, Director of Finance Business Risk & Controls: Tom brings 30 years of experience in finance, risk, IT, operations, compliance, and audit disciplines across industries. In this role, Tom will lead the Bank's Finance Risk Management function, including data, operational, and financial exposures. Most recently, Tom served as U.S. Bank's SVP of Operations' Financial and Data Risks. Tom also held Finance Chief Risk Officer and Senior Risk Officer roles at U.S. Bank, having led its SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) program for 14 years. Tom will report to Chief Financial Officer, Craig Gifford.

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 March 31, 2024, the Company had $112.9 billion of assets, $83.3 billion of loans, deposits of $74.9 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. Flagstar Mortgage operates nationally through a wholesale network of approximately 3,000 third-party mortgage originators. In addition, the Bank has approximately 90 private banking teams located in over ten cities in the metropolitan New York City region and on the West Coast, serving 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 effects of the reverse stock split.

Forward‐looking statements are typically identified by such words as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "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 JPMC to execute the definitive documentation contemplated by the commitment letter 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 March 31, 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 Amendment, during investor presentations, or in our other 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

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