Sterling National Bank Announces Its Participation in the USDF Consortium™

Sterling National Bank (“Sterling”), the wholly-owned operating bank subsidiary of Sterling Bancorp (NYSE: STL) announced today its participation in the USDF ConsortiumTM, an association of FDIC-insured financial institutions, whose objective is to advance the adoption and interoperability of a bank-minted stablecoin, USDFTM. USDF will be established on the Provenance Network, a public blockchain that supports real-time payment capabilities and will facilitate faster, cheaper, more secure money movement. USDF seeks to address many of the regulatory concerns raised related to non-bank minted stablecoins.

The USDF Consortium has been formed to build a network of banks to facilitate the compliant transfer of value on the blockchain, removing friction in the financial system and unlocking the financial opportunities that blockchain technology can provide to users. The Consortium is doing the foundational work to allow banks to leverage blockchain technology to drive responsible innovation and growth.

“Our membership in the Consortium will enable us to integrate real-time payments into our operating model, allowing us to leverage the benefits of blockchain technology to streamline multi-party decisioning processes and provide certainty of settlement. We are exploring specific segment-focused use cases that can drive differentiation and growth in our commercially focused business, including potential applications to commercial lending and loan syndications,” said Bea Ordonez, Chief Financial Officer of Sterling National Bank.

“Money transfers have historically been slow, expensive and complicated. We believe that we can differentiate our Banking-as-a-Service offerings by introducing capabilities such as real-time payments and smart contracts to our partners, allowing them to deliver a more efficient, digitally native experience to their clients.” said Matt Smith, Segment Executive Direct Bank and Banking-as-Service at Sterling National Bank.

“Blockchain opens up boundless possibilities and allows the Bank to develop innovative solutions for our customers.” said Derek Green, Chief Data Officer of Sterling National Bank. “At a foundational level, blockchain technology provides us the ability to seamlessly move information across a network and we expect that this will drive operational efficiencies both internally and for our customers.”

About Sterling National Bank Sterling National Bank specializes in the delivery of financial services and solutions for small to mid-size businesses and consumers within the communities we serve through a distinctive team-based delivery approach utilizing highly experienced, fully dedicated relationship managers. Sterling National Bank offers a complete line of commercial, business, and consumer banking products and services. For more information, visit www.snb.com.

About USDF Consortium    The USDF Consortium™is a membership-based association and is not an FDIC-insured bank. We are working to coordinate the efforts of banks in minting USDF in a regulatory compliant manner; build out the bank network; and ensure interoperability of USDF to realize the full potential of blockchain technology to better serve consumers. The USDF Consortium is making the market safer, cheaper, and more reliable for consumers who want to transact on blockchain by ensuring banks continue to play an important role in the financial ecosystem as blockchain adoption proliferates. We are committed to building the foundation and advancing responsible innovation that will allow banks to harness this technology. To learn more, and for a full list of the founding member companies, please visit the Consortium’s website at www.usdfconsortium.com.

Sterling Bancorp Emlen Harmon, Senior Managing Director – Investor Relations 212.309.7646