CRE

The online bank will consolidate all of its Charlotte-area employees into a new office tower, but its headquarters will remain in Detroit.

The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was created after 9/11 to serve as a crucial federal backstop for commercial real estate insurers, but an analysis of alternatives to fund the program reveals the continued challenges of measuring and predicting terror risk.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a proposal Wednesday that would raise the appraisal threshold for CRE loans to $400,000 from $250,000.

Lenders say they are eager to reduce their exposure to CRE, but an examination of recent deals shows just how hard that can be.

With fewer CMBS deals coming to market — partly as a result of risk-retention rules — an independent finance company like Ladder Capital can’t always wait to piggyback on Wall Street’s transactions.

So-called transitional lending has traditionally been kept on balance sheet; but it’s become attractive to bundle the loans for transactions called (take a deep breath) commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations. Can investors stomach the features these deals sported before the crisis?

The Fed’s quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey found that demand decreased for both commercial and industrial and commercial real estate loans.

Aggressive restructuring moves and stock buybacks are giving CIT time to remold itself, but it will need to show core-banking growth to stave off calls for the company to sell itself.

This is a good time for bank risk managers and bank regulatory examiners to evaluate the effects of a deepening retail crisis on the financial services sector.

Construction lending could make a comeback if bankers persuade Congress to reform capital and other complicated rules on so-called high volatility CRE loans. But will regulators go for it?