Signature Bank (NasdaqGS:SBNY) in New York is in talks to sell all or parts of its $603 million taxi medallion loan portfolio. The $40 billion-asset bank has seen an increase of interest from potential buyers of taxi medallion loans, Chief Executive Officer Joseph DePaolo said recently. That's a change from as recently as three months ago, when buyers were scarce, he said. Private-equity funds and other investors have shown heightened interest in acquiring distressed taxi medallion loans at steep discounts, DePaolo said. Signature sold a taxi medallion loan for $500,000 to an unnamed buyer last month, and the bank is in talks with other potential buyers. "We're working on some bulk sales. We continue to sell individually," DePaolo said. "We're hopefully entertaining offers to exit the portfolio."