New York Community Bancorp’s online arm is offering a higher interest rate on savings accounts than any other bank in the US — a possible “sign of neediness” for cash despite a bailout from an investor group led by former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, according to a report.
The regional bank’s digital unit, called My Banking Direct, pays the best interest rate for savings accounts on the market, 5.55%, according to analyst Ken Tumin, who tracks rates for his bank-tracking and reviews website, Deposit Accounts.
Per Tumin’s estimates, savings accounts in the top 1% on average offer a 4.97% interest rate.
Though NYCB — which just last month needed a $1 billion-plus lifeline — celebrates the APY as “a great way to build your financial future,” Tumin said that it’s a red flag the lender is facing funding pressure, as earlier reported by CNBC.
“It looks like they’re trying really hard to attract deposits,” Tumin said. “My Banking Direct has been around for a long time, more than 10 years, so them having an aggressive rate could be a sign of neediness.”
Representatives for NYCB did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
NYCB’s woes kicked off early this year, when it said it was preparing for far greater losses on commercial real estate loans than analysts had expected — which sent its stock price spiraling.
By March, it announced a ten-figure capital injection from investors led by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s Liberty Strategic Capital in exhcnage or equity in the bank.
Mnuchin was also named one of four new members of the bank’s board of directors as part of the deal, which was revealed at the same time as a leadership shakeup.
Joseph Otting, former comptroller of the currency, joined the board and took over as NYCB’s CEO, according to a press release at the time.
The move marked the end of Thomas Cangemi rein as chief, and capped off his 27-year tenure at NYCB.
DiNello, NYCB’s executive chairman, had been acting as the bank’s true boss before the shakeup was announced.
And in the weeks leading up to his departure, Cangemi had been reporting to DiNello, even changing bylaws to make it happen.
In February, the bank — among the top 30 in the US — amended its fourth-quarter losses from $252 million to $2.7 billion and divulged “internal control issues.”
“As part of management’s assessment of the Company’s internal controls, management identified material weaknesses in the Company’s internal controls related to internal loan review, resulting from ineffective oversight, risk assessment, and monitoring activities,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DiNello insisted in the March release that despite NYCB’s “recent challenges, we are confident in the direction of our bank and our ability to deliver for our customers, employees, and shareholders in the long term.”