Articles About Financing

Curiosity is growing about which Wall Street banks will be the first to get out of proprietary trading or the private equity business as they restructure to come into compliance with new financial regulatory reform legislation. The Volcker Rule – named for former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker – limits banks from these practices and […]

Although property investment – especially for trophy buildings – is coming back more strongly than industry analysts had anticipated, mid-tier properties are not yet enjoying a similar rebound.  According to Real Capital Analytics (RCA), properties valued at $20.6 billion were sold during the 2nd quarter of 2010, an 86 percent increase over last year. According […]

There’s good news and bad news about the health of European banks.  Of the 91 financial institutions that recently underwent stress tests, only seven outright failed. Those seven who did not perform well were ordered to raise their capital by €3.5 billion (approximately $4.5 billion).  The number of failures were far less than what was […]

The next item on President Barack Obama’s ambitious agenda is likely to be overhauling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage firms that so far have cost American taxpayers $145 billion to keep afloat.  The two firms, which own more than half of the nation’s $11 trillion in home mortgages, collapsed along with the […]

As the nation gradually recovers from the Great Recession, several years are likely to pass before lending returns to pre-crisis levels, according to Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke.  The return of credit growth is far slower than during any business cycle of the last four decades with the sole exception of the 1990 – 1991 […]

Banks are starting to hire again as they return to structuring CMBS, a sign that the financial markets are gradually returning to normal.  “I see lots of friends who used to be employed, and weren’t for a while, and are now being rehired by institutions,” said Jonathan Strain, debt capital markets director at JPMorgan Chase’s […]

A new accounting standard could alter the way tenants lease space, a move that carries serious implications for commercial real estate.  The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has been cooperating with the International Accounting Standards Board to combine its generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) with international standards. According to Russell G. Golden, the FASB’s technical […]

After nearly two years of waiting, watching and hoping, American commercial real estate is finally regaining strength. This is one conclusion of the Reuters Global Real Estate and Infrastructure Summit held recently in New York City.  Starting in the fall of 2008, real estate investors feared there would be a wide-ranging sell-off of debt-laden commercial […]

The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is turning out to be a better bet than many thought at first. According to the Treasury Department, the amount of money repaid by banks and other recipients now exceeds TARP’s outstanding balance.  In a monthly report to Congress on the program, TARP repayments total $194 billion; […]

State-owned holding company Dubai World is in talks to renegotiate $26 billion of debt and asking its banks for approval to defer loan payments.  The banks are hoping to avoid a haircut – taking less money than they are owed.  Dubai’s government also might provide a guarantee to the banks that are owned money.  Dubai […]