Cross River Bank has hired a Silicon Valley Bank veteran to help lead its newly launched foray into investment banking.
Henry Pinnell until July led the fintech investment banking effort at SVB Securities, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’ll serve as co-head of investment banking at Cross River alongside fellow co-head Benjamin Samuels, a Morgan Stanley alum Cross River hired in August.
Cross River couches its investment banking strategy as a “doubling down on its commitment to serving the fintech community,” according to a press release issued last week. With that effort, Cross River plans to advise clients on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions and other corporate finance matters, the bank said. That adds several facets to the help Cross River’s securities unit had provided to date — generally, assisting with privately placed credit transactions, including asset-backed securities.
"The opportunity to build a fintech-focused investment banking business with a Company that uniquely lives and partners in the same industry day-to-day is a career opportunity too good to pass up,” Pinnell wrote in a LinkedIn post. “We will bring exceptional advice, insights and connections to the industry. We have already hit the ground running!”
Pinnell rose through the ranks at Barclays over a 15-year stint before joining SVB in 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Samuels, for his part, said he “always viewed Cross River as the nucleus powering the fintech ecosystem, offering creative solutions and adapting to the market’s needs.”
“I am excited to parlay that creativity to offering investment banking solutions where we can deliver the brand and help our clients with their most important decisions and transactions,” he said in last week’s press release.
At Morgan Stanley, Samuels served as co-head of alternative capital solutions in the bank’s global capital markets group. He previously worked in special-purpose acquisition company investment banking with Cowen, according to LinkedIn.
"We'll be working with companies spanning from seed stage to public," a Cross River spokesperson told American Banker in an email. "The vision was always for us to be up and down the capital stack. Now, we'll be able to support companies as they look to their capital-raising journey and corporate advisory needs."
