It has been a busy week around here: ULI Conference, Leads Release, MISMO Progress, preparing for the Backshop User conference and listening to Julian Marley.
As an aside: The asset highlighted in the Asset Summary Report – CVS Holliston Mass. (PDF) is a property my brother and Dad own that has CMBS debt on it. It’s interesting seeing your own loan in the database.
ULI Conference in San Francisco
Last week we had a booth at the Urban Land Institute Conference in San Francisco. The 5,500 registrants included a wide range of equity players including developers, REITS, funds, architects and city planners. There were not as many lenders as in the past, but attendance was strong and the exhibit hall sold out.
While the attendance numbers were good, the frozen debt markets, rising cap rates, and detiorating fundamentals were affecting most people. The bright spots were 1) the few REITs that have accessed the capital markets and 2) the funds with dry powder looking to buy into the downturn. I did some promoting for transparency but spent most of my time selling Backshop, Leads and our bond tools.
Leads Release
We upgraded the CMBS Leads product by adding a new PDF report at the asset level and adding expanded data to our download features.
The MISMO rent roll and operating statement committee, which I chair, had a call this week to go over the proposed XML schema we came up with at the end of August.
It took us a bit longer than we had hoped to get the structure integrated into the core data model, but we are moving again. We have another call set up for next week to finalize the schema, then it will be ready for its the 30-day public review period. Hopefully there will be a lot more on that in the coming weeks.
Backshop User Conference
Julian Marley rocks The Independent in San Francisco.
We are having our annual user conference in New York this Friday. The last two years, we have hosted two-day conferences in San Francisco. This year, given the markets and travel budgets, we decided to have the meeting in New York instead. Our good friends at Bank of America are contributing the meeting space, and we have more than 10 clients coming in for a day of updates and priority setting.
We have traditionally had a music theme at the conference. The first year we went to see Willie Nelson at the Fillmore. Last year we saw Dark Star Orchestra at the Great American Music Hall. This year, we are going to the Metallica concert Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. We have a crew of 16 going and, as always, I am looking forward to a rocking night!
Speaking of rocking, I saw Julian Marley play last night at The Independent in San Francisco. Julian, a son of Bob Marley, is touring with his brother Stephen in support of Julian’s new album, “A Time and Place.”
It is an awesome album and a great show. If you see this show pop up in your city, consider going for great taste of some current reggae.
I’ll report in after the user conference and Metallica show with some cool pics/video.
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
Washington, DC – This morning I attended the House Financial Service Committee markup/debate meeting for the Accountability and Transparency in Rating Agency Act — House Bill 3890.
https://www.cmbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cmbslogo030619.png00jimflahertyhttps://www.cmbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/cmbslogo030619.pngjimflaherty2009-10-27 20:42:362020-09-16 20:44:12House Bill 3890
The buzz is starting on the shape government reform will take. Looks like the brunt of the regulation/changes will take place at the rating agency level through increased disclosure legislation. The start of this move was the SEC announcement that all rating agencies will get all deal info.
Two more developments between the rating agencies and the Fed have created further movement:
1. Rating Agencies Want It
I watched the rating agency testimony last week on a web cam, and it was fascinating. The heads of Moodys, S&P, Fitch, RealPoint, Rapid Ratings, the SEC and a CFA were on the panel testifying about how to reform the market.
While they all said it one way or the other, Ray McDaniel, CEO of Moodys, testified that transparency of data for all parties is the single most important thing we could do to reform structured finance. Agreed!
Check out this clip:
2. New York Fed Wants It
On October 5, the New York Fed announced they are changing two rules on how TALF works. One change makes it easier for rating agencies to do business with the Fed, with the goals of promoting competition and increasing the number of rating agencies.
The second change was more significant. The Fed said they want the same data the rating agencies get so they can make their own, independent, analysis of the collateral. They want to decide for themselves whether the collateral is good enough and meets the credit quality standards of the TALF program.
“Starting with the November subscription, in addition to continuing to require that collateral for TALF loans receive two triple-A ratings from TALF eligible NRSROs, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will conduct a formal risk assessment of all proposed collateral — ABS in addition to CMBS, which are already subject to a formal risk assessment. The change to the collateral review process will enhance the Federal Reserve’s ability to ensure that TALF collateral complies with its existing high standards for credit quality, transparency, and simplicity of structure.”
So, if the Fed, as an investor, is not comfortable relying on the rating agency’s analysis for its investments, then it stands to reason they would not expect other private investors to rely solely on the rating agencies. Transparency seems to be coming. …
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
Busy week: Checking in
/0 Comments/in Industry news, Industry standards, What's going on /by jimflahertyIt has been a busy week around here: ULI Conference, Leads Release, MISMO Progress, preparing for the Backshop User conference and listening to Julian Marley.
As an aside: The asset highlighted in the Asset Summary Report – CVS Holliston Mass. (PDF) is a property my brother and Dad own that has CMBS debt on it. It’s interesting seeing your own loan in the database.
ULI Conference in San Francisco
Last week we had a booth at the Urban Land Institute Conference in San Francisco. The 5,500 registrants included a wide range of equity players including developers, REITS, funds, architects and city planners. There were not as many lenders as in the past, but attendance was strong and the exhibit hall sold out.
While the attendance numbers were good, the frozen debt markets, rising cap rates, and detiorating fundamentals were affecting most people. The bright spots were 1) the few REITs that have accessed the capital markets and 2) the funds with dry powder looking to buy into the downturn. I did some promoting for transparency but spent most of my time selling Backshop, Leads and our bond tools.
Leads Release
We upgraded the CMBS Leads product by adding a new PDF report at the asset level and adding expanded data to our download features.
Here are two sample reports:
CMBS Leads report – Alaska Hotels (Excel)
Asset Summary Report – CVS Holliston Mass. (PDF)
MISMO
The MISMO rent roll and operating statement committee, which I chair, had a call this week to go over the proposed XML schema we came up with at the end of August.
It took us a bit longer than we had hoped to get the structure integrated into the core data model, but we are moving again. We have another call set up for next week to finalize the schema, then it will be ready for its the 30-day public review period. Hopefully there will be a lot more on that in the coming weeks.
Backshop User Conference
Julian Marley rocks The Independent in San Francisco.
We are having our annual user conference in New York this Friday. The last two years, we have hosted two-day conferences in San Francisco. This year, given the markets and travel budgets, we decided to have the meeting in New York instead. Our good friends at Bank of America are contributing the meeting space, and we have more than 10 clients coming in for a day of updates and priority setting.
We have traditionally had a music theme at the conference. The first year we went to see Willie Nelson at the Fillmore. Last year we saw Dark Star Orchestra at the Great American Music Hall. This year, we are going to the Metallica concert Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. We have a crew of 16 going and, as always, I am looking forward to a rocking night!
Speaking of rocking, I saw Julian Marley play last night at The Independent in San Francisco. Julian, a son of Bob Marley, is touring with his brother Stephen in support of Julian’s new album, “A Time and Place.”
It is an awesome album and a great show. If you see this show pop up in your city, consider going for great taste of some current reggae.
I’ll report in after the user conference and Metallica show with some cool pics/video.
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
www.cmbs.com
www.backshop.com
House Bill 3890
/0 Comments/in Industry news, Industry standards /by jimflahertyWashington, DC – This morning I attended the House Financial Service Committee markup/debate meeting for the Accountability and Transparency in Rating Agency Act — House Bill 3890.
Read more
Movement
/0 Comments/in Industry news, Industry standards /by jimflahertyThe buzz is starting on the shape government reform will take. Looks like the brunt of the regulation/changes will take place at the rating agency level through increased disclosure legislation. The start of this move was the SEC announcement that all rating agencies will get all deal info.
Two more developments between the rating agencies and the Fed have created further movement:
1. Rating Agencies Want It
I watched the rating agency testimony last week on a web cam, and it was fascinating. The heads of Moodys, S&P, Fitch, RealPoint, Rapid Ratings, the SEC and a CFA were on the panel testifying about how to reform the market.
While they all said it one way or the other, Ray McDaniel, CEO of Moodys, testified that transparency of data for all parties is the single most important thing we could do to reform structured finance. Agreed!
Check out this clip:
2. New York Fed Wants It
On October 5, the New York Fed announced they are changing two rules on how TALF works. One change makes it easier for rating agencies to do business with the Fed, with the goals of promoting competition and increasing the number of rating agencies.
The second change was more significant. The Fed said they want the same data the rating agencies get so they can make their own, independent, analysis of the collateral. They want to decide for themselves whether the collateral is good enough and meets the credit quality standards of the TALF program.
Here is the press release on the Federal Reserve site.
Here is the language:
“Starting with the November subscription, in addition to continuing to require that collateral for TALF loans receive two triple-A ratings from TALF eligible NRSROs, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will conduct a formal risk assessment of all proposed collateral — ABS in addition to CMBS, which are already subject to a formal risk assessment. The change to the collateral review process will enhance the Federal Reserve’s ability to ensure that TALF collateral complies with its existing high standards for credit quality, transparency, and simplicity of structure.”
So, if the Fed, as an investor, is not comfortable relying on the rating agency’s analysis for its investments, then it stands to reason they would not expect other private investors to rely solely on the rating agencies. Transparency seems to be coming. …
— — —
Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.
www.cmbs.com
www.backshop.com