Commercial real estate lending

The New York bank said it wrote down each taxi medallion loan to a value of $160,000. At their peak, New York City medallions were worth well over $1 million.

The Los Angeles bank also benefited from a reduced reliance on costlier certificates of deposit.

Bankers hoped the tax overhaul would stimulate a boom in business borrowing, but several said this week that hasn’t happened yet. PNC’s Bill Demchak warned that the tax cuts could be encouraging lenders to underprice loans.

Banks have been hanging on to problem loans for various reasons, but that could create headaches when credit inevitably worsens.

TriStar Bank in Tennessee says a shortage of appraisers is slowing down its commercial real estate lending and raising the cost of appraisals. The claim has outraged appraisers, who argue that the bank is simply trying to avoid paying their fees.

As part of a larger regulatory relief effort, regulators have raised the dollar-amount threshold for commercial real estate transactions that require a formal appraisal.

First the House and now the Senate have included provisions in their regulatory relief bills that bankers say would go a long way toward clearing up confusion over how to treat high-volatility commercial real estate loans.

To attract new customers, banks are getting rid of the paper-based payments process between builders and subcontractors.

The Silicon Valley-based CU is funding development of an apartment building.

It’s too soon to gauge the true impact of recent tax cuts on loan demand, but anecdotes from bankers suggest that, after months of stagnation, pipelines are filling up again.

Its small, locally owned banks were as decimated after the crisis as in any big city. But community bankers say changes to the economy and their lending practices offer them a shot at challenging the big banks that dominate their market.

Credit standards for commercial loans to medium and large firms showed some signs of easing over the last three months of 2017, even though demand stayed relatively unchanged.

On Sep. 30, 2017. Dollars in thousands.

The New York multifamily lender is making steady progress in a multiyear effort to reduce its dependency on commercial real estate.

A large writedown on its portfolio of taxi medallion loans marred an otherwise strong fourth quarter for Signature Bank in New York.

Weak loan growth, a $3.25 billion litigation accrual and other costs tied to the phony-accounts saga all added up to a messy fourth quarter for the San Francisco bank.

How new developments on many fronts are going to affect the banking business in the coming year and beyond — and what bankers can do to prepare.

Startups that have developed the technology for real estate finance are starting to conduct a broader array of transactions, including property sales.

Startups that have developed the technology for real estate finance are starting to conduct a broader array of transactions, including property sales.

The rise of e-commerce is hollowing out shopping malls and strip centers, but it is also creating new interesting opportunities for commercial real estate developers and lenders.