The spread of COVID-19 has created a new reality for the hospitality industry. As of March 25, the CDC reported 54,453 confirmed cases in the U.S., and the number is expected to grow exponentially. In the hopes of slashing infection rates, governments have implemented international travel bans, shelter-in-place orders and other restrictive measures. The second-most … Continue Reading
We have been writing off and on about the restoration to good graces of the commercial real estate CLO since the early days of this current recovery, and it’s important to keep the conversation going. Hey, if Pete Rose can get into the Hall of Fame (and as MLB is embracing gambling, that cannot but … Continue Reading
Around this time of year, we slip on the prognostication goggles and take a look forward into the next year. While there is ample evidence that prognostication is a dodgy exercise, I always tell my folks that the fact that it’s hard to do and extraordinarily unreliable is not an excuse not to have a … Continue Reading
As an industry, we remain in high dudgeon over the inanity of much of Dodd-Frank, the ideological and often unhinged regulatory instincts of our various governments and the vast amount of effort, time and money it takes to comply with the mind-numbing complexity of rules and regulations that seem to be largely untethered from the … Continue Reading
Last week, an article written by Mr. Frank Partnoy, professor of law at the University of San Diego, appeared in the Financial Times and was subsequently picked up by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Partnoy argues that the next global financial crisis will be found inside the CLO industry and that past is prologue. I think … Continue Reading
The slow start to 2016 did not dampen the enthusiasm at CREFC’s Annual Conference, held last week in New York City. The conference saw record attendance, with standing-room-only crowds at virtually every panel. As with the Industry Leaders Conference in January, the hot topics on people’s minds were risk retention (and the rest of the … Continue Reading
I was entertaining myself early this morning by looking over a joint agency report just released entitled “An Analysis of the Impact of the Commercial Real Estate Concentration Guidance”. This report summarizes the performance of bank CRE portfolios following the issuance of interagency guidance in 2006 entitled “Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate Lending, Sound Risk … Continue Reading
Earlier this month I was a panelist at the HOPE NOW REO Symposium in DC. The Symposium brought together residential mortgage loan servicers, community non-profits, private equity investors, government agencies and lenders to discuss the growing number of REO on the balance sheets of Fannie, Freddie and private mortgage lenders. I participated in a panel that focused … Continue Reading
Rialto Capital – Series 2012-LT1 is a done deal. It represents a huge innovation in commercial real estate structured finance. This is the first liquidating trust vehicle successfully securitized in the United States since the famous RTC N Series and its progeny of the mid-1990s. Briefly, the transaction involved the pooling of sub-performing, non-performing and REO assets pursuant to … Continue Reading
It’s that time of year when we’re forced to think about budgets and business plans. The pointy headed types from the accounting department want to know exactly what we’ll be doing the second week of next May and, as I’m sure every one of you have said (or thought) when confronted with such bureaucratic insanity: If I … Continue Reading
For many of us, an annual right of summer’s commencement, CREFC’s mid-year conference has begun in earnest for the last time in Manhattan (we’ll be in DC at this time next year). I’ll also note that for the second straight year, the conference’s first day coincides with Game 6 of a rather hotly contested playoff … Continue Reading
Recently, while visiting my in-laws, I took a break from college basketball and the Daytona 500 and caught up on the latest developments in the quest for covered bond legislation in the United States. Not surprisingly, I quickly found that the quest for covered bond legislation is, well, still a quest. We have discussed the … Continue Reading
It seems that I use most of my time in this space to rail against an unthoughtful regulatory architecture that will certainly surprise and may ultimately do unintended and substantial harm to our nascent and uncertain recovery. While, from where I sit, it’s still fair to say this market continues to show little real conviction … Continue Reading
