U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres is touting the finalization of a real estate loan portfolio sale last month after Signature Bank failed last spring — saying more than 19,000 units of Bronx housing are out of the hands of potentially careless developers and now belong to investors who prioritize affordable housing.
Torres sounded the alarm after New York City’s Signature Bank was the latest in a string of big bank collapses to send ripple effects through the economy in March 2023. Signature Bank, which championed cryptocurrency lending, closed its doors last spring after California-based institutions Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Bank — also big digital and crypto dealers — fell a few weeks prior due to instability with crypto deposits, customer withdrawals and plummeting stock prices.
