Cross River Launches Premier Fintech Investment Banking Franchise

Expansion leverages unique position in the industry with extensive connectivity, differentiated insights and full-service capabilities

Benjamin Samuels & Henry Pinnell to co-lead effort

CRB Group, Inc. the parent company of Cross River Bank and CRB Securities, LLC (“CRBS”), today announced the launch of an Investment Banking strategy, marking a significant milestone in the Company’s growth trajectory and doubling down on its commitment to serving the fintech community. The firm will assist its clients in achieving their strategic goals by advising on their most critical decisions, including mergers & acquisitions, capital markets transactions and other corporate finance matters. The Investment Banking team will be a part of CRB Securities, LLC, and will be led by industry veterans Benjamin Samuels and Henry Pinnell as Co-Heads of Investment Banking.

“We are proud to launch our investment banking division of our broker dealer with two well-respected professionals in the industry, combining decades of experience in both the fintech industry and capital markets,” said Gilles Gade, Founder and CEO of Cross River. “Ben and Henry are tasked with enhancing even further our product offering to our fintech partners and beyond, enabling us to solve the distinct needs of each and every client.”

With a steadfast commitment to innovation in financial services, Cross River’s Investment Banking team will leverage its extensive experience, network and expertise in banking to provide a truly comprehensive suite of services to its fintech clients. To date, CRB Securities, LLC has primarily focused on assisting clients with privately placed credit transactions, including asset-backed securities. The decision to expand into investment banking comes at a time of increasing demand for creative solutions in fintech and our commitment to serving our every client’s strategic needs.

Benjamin Samuels joins as Co-Head of Investment Banking from Morgan Stanley, where he was most recently the Co-Head of Alternative Capital Solutions within the Global Capital Markets group. In his role he led the firm’s Equity Private Placements, SPAC and PIPE efforts globally. Benjamin has over a decade of experience having previously held various roles at Cowen, Evercore and Stephens within the Capital Advisory and Financial Institutions Group where he advised on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and complex strategic transactions.

Henry Pinnell joins as Co-Head of Investment Banking from SVB Securities, where he was a Senior Managing Director and led the Fintech Investment Banking effort. He brings more than 15 years of investment banking experience in fintech and financial services, advising on milestone transactions for industry-leading companies, founders and investors in the fintech space with extensive experience originating, planning, and executing strategic and financing transactions both in the private and public markets. Prior to SVB Henry was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Division at Barclays Bank PLC where he led the firm’s Emerging Fintech franchise.

“I could not be more thrilled by the opportunity we have to offer the fintech community a differentiated suite of solutions coupled with unique insights informed by our own differentiated place in the fintech ecosystem,” said Henry Pinnell. “The team has hit the ground running already and we are excited to build alongside the industry over the coming months.”

“I have always viewed Cross River as the nucleus powering the fintech ecosystem, offering creative solutions and adapting to the market’s needs,” said Benjamin Samuels. “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.”

About Cross River

Cross River provides technology infrastructure powering the future of financial services. Leveraging its proprietary real-time banking core, Cross River delivers innovative and scalable embedded payments, cards, and lending solutions to millions of consumers and businesses. Cross River is backed by leading investors and serves the world’s most essential fintech and technology companies. Together with its partners, Cross River is reshaping global finance and financial inclusion. Member FDIC. Find out more at www.crossriver.com.

About CRB Securities

CRB Securities, LLC (“CRBS”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of CRB Group Inc, a bank holding company, and the parent company of Cross River Bank (“CRB”), established in 2008. CRB Securities is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and FINRA member. CRB Securities was created to solve the financing needs of clients that are looking to access the capital markets through the issuance of securities. Through CRB Securities, Cross River clients can diversify their funding strategy in a flexible and operationally efficient manner. For more information on CRB Securities, please visit https://brokercheck.finra.org/.

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