NYCB names CEO Joseph Otting to additional role of executive chairman

(Reuters) - Regional lender New York Community Bancorp said on Tuesday it had expanded the role of its President and CEO Joseph Otting to include the title of executive chairman.

The bank also said Alessandro DiNello will step down as the non-executive chairman, at the close of business on June 5. He will continue to serve as a director on its board and as senior adviser to the CEO.

Shares of NYCB were last up 1.2% in extended trading.

A stock rout wiped billions off NYCB's market value since January, roughly a year after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank ignited widespread concerns over the health of the sector.

NYCB has shuffled top executives multiple times this year to steer it through the crisis.

Otting, former comptroller of the currency, was named CEO in March, when the bank received a $1 billion lifeline from an investor consortium led by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's Liberty Strategic Capital.

NYCB has since laid out a turnaround plan to return to profitability over the next two years and vowed to shrink its balance sheet by reducing non-core assets.

Concerns stemming from the bank's exposure to the under-pressure commercial real estate (CRE) sector have persisted. Though NYCB has pledged to cut its CRE lending footprint.

CRE loans made up 16% of the bank's total as of March 31. The lender also reported a loss in the first quarter as it set aside larger provisions of credit losses to cover potential defaults on loans.

Later that month, the embattled lender also made a deal to sell $5 billion of mortgage warehouse loans to Wall Street titan JPMorgan Chase to bolster its liquidity.

The bank has sought to settle investor jitters and revive its battered stock, which is down roughly 69% so far this year.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Alan Barona)