Maintaining stability through a regional banking crisis
Cathy Danigelis:
So what we saw last quarter was a number of banks that were not able to close on loans in their pipeline. KeyBank was asked to step in on a number of loans, and we were able to do that, so I do feel that the market is stabilizing and that we are continuing to lend.
Geoffery Metz:
Hello everyone, and welcome to our latest installment in the Thought Leadership podcast series hosted on globest.com and presented by today's sponsor, KeyBank. I'm Geoffery Metz. In this episode, Al Beaumariage, SVP and the Affordable Housing Program Manager for KeyBank and Cathy Danigelis, Western Region Manager also with KeyBank joined Kelsi Maree Borland to discuss the recent financial sector woes and what's stressing multifamily, the collapse of SVB Financial in California followed closely by Signature Bank out of New York, and to a lesser degree, Credit Suisse sent waves of uncertainty through the financial services sector already facing headwinds from a double whammy of rising interest rates and inflation. According to Beaumariage and Danigelis, KeyBank has weathered it nicely here. They discussed some of the lessons they have learned and what's catching their attention in the affordable housing sector. Let's join their conversation.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
Hi, I'm Kelsi Maree Borland, a reporter with globest.com, and I am here with Al Beaumariage, Senior Vice President and Affordable Housing Program Manager at KeyBank and Cathy Danigelis, Western Region Manager at KeyBank. Thank you both so much for joining me.
Al Beaumariage:
Thank you for having us.
Cathy Danigelis:
Thank you, Kelsi.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
Yes, thank you both so much. It has been an eventful first quarter to say the least, and there continues to be a lot of uncertainty permeating throughout the industry. I'm looking forward to digging into some of these market trends with you, but the one at top of mind has been the recent destabilization of the regional banking sector, which has really shaken market confidence. In your opinion, Cathy, maybe we'll start with you, what is your outlook on the availability of regional debt?
Cathy Danigelis:
That's a great question, Kelsi. I feel that banks are still lending on most product types. In very simple terms, a bank collects deposits and then in turn, lends them out. When deposits are rapidly withdrawn, a bank's capital becomes constrained and their ability to continue to lend is restricted. Affordable housing projects, which, that is, what I do at KeyBank, often utilize private activity bonds as part of their capital stack. Regional banks, including KeyBank, will purchase these private activity bonds using deposits. We saw last quarter was a number of banks that were not able to close on loans in their pipeline. KeyBank was asked to step in on a number of loans and we were able to do that. So I do feel that the market is stabilizing and that we are continuing to lend.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
That's great to hear, Cathy. Al, what's your take?
Al Beaumariage:
Well, I agree with everything Cathy just said, so thank you. I would just continue to say that KeyBank's capital position remains very strong, and we are well positioned to weather any regional liquidity crunch. Key's liquidity levels remain consistently above the 110% regulatory ratio limits, and we have a loan-to-deposit ratio below 90%. In fact, KeyBank's deposit base is in the top quartile in the industry, and 59% of that base is made up of small business and consumer clients. I should also mention that in addition to our private placement executions, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are here to provide liquidity in uncertain times. On the heels of the SVB issues, both GSCs stepped up and Freddie even reduced their pricing during the past month.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
Absolutely, and that definitely restored some market confidence. I think also just the stability of a bank like Key restores confidence, I'm sure for your clients. Of course, the banking upset is just one of the recent events that we've seen. I'm curious what the overall sentiment is among your clients. What are you hearing from them when you are working with them on current deals?
Cathy Danigelis:
I think that during the crisis, the immediate aftermath of it, we were reaching out to all of our clients and prospects and having conversations with them about the stability of KeyBank and what was going on in the market. So I feel that KeyBank has, like Al said, a very diversified deposit base and we are very stable. Clients were expressing concern about credit ratings. They were expressing concern about whether banks could go forward, and they were really happy that we touched base with them. We also heard that not every bank was reaching out to their clients, and I feel like that's the touch that we brought to our clients to give them the confidence to continue to go forward.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
That's incredible. I think that's a real reminder that banking is still about relationships and making sure you have that personal touch. I really wanted to ask you how you were really providing your clients with peace of mind during this rocky period, and it sounds like I think the stability in the bank, but also this personal touch that you've provided has been able to do that. Would you agree?
Al Beaumariage:
I would absolutely agree, Kelsi. KeyBank has remained open for business as usual. We haven't restricted any of our product offerings on any of our lending programs, and it's our mission to help communities thrive, and we have a steadfast commitment to doing just that.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
It's that diversity that really allows, I think, people... Cathy mentioned earlier that there have been a lot of clients that have had issues during a liquidity crunch period. KeyBank has not had those issues, and so I imagine you're serving your clients, but you're also looking at new clients or new deals and really able to service the spectrum of needs.
Cathy Danigelis:
Yeah. I'd like to add one thing to what Al said, that the majority of our clients are repeat clients, and they entrust their developments to KeyBank because of our relationship, because of the flexibility that we offer, the excellent customer service and the expertise that we bring to the table. KeyBank's Community Development Lending management team is very experienced, including Al and myself. I'd say that the average collective experience is over 25 years. That means that we've each seen a number of downturns, and we're able to offer solutions to problems as they arise because we may have seen it before.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
That's great. These kind of issues that we're talking about, the banking uncertainty, the rise in interest rates are all related to these economic headwinds that we've been talking about, but of course, there are other issues at play here. One of those is the regulatory environment coming out of Washington. The Biden Administration released a Renters Bill of Rights earlier this year aimed at improving the supply of affordable housing. How do you expect this to impact multifamily or housing investment in general?
Cathy Danigelis:
That's a great question. President Biden's Renter Bill of Rights was published in January 2023 and included five principles aimed at strengthening tenant protections, improving health and safety standards, enhancing fair housing protections, and to increase access to legal remedies for renters. This included measures such as prohibiting discrimination against renters based on income or housing vouchers, addressing health and safety issues in rental properties and promoting equal access to housing opportunities. There were five principles. 1) was safe, quality, accessible, and affordable housing. 2), clear and fair leases. 3), education enforcement and enhancement of renter's rights. 4), the right to organize, and 5) eviction prevention, diversion and relief.
I think there's pros and cons to this. I think that the idea to increase tenant protections and provide safeguards is really a positive move to protect the vulnerable population. Always, it's important to improve health and safety standards for renters in living conditions and the well-being of tenants. There still is discrimination in housing, even though we do have a law such as the Fair Housing Act, but they're still there, and this would hopefully be able to help prevent some of that and give equal access to housing opportunities. Increased access to illegal remedies, I think that this population is often... does not feel empowered and is maybe not as educated in being able to assert their rights in court and seek redress for violations, and this would also help stabilize that. Al, I don't know if you have thoughts on pros or cons on that.
Al Beaumariage:
Well, thanks, Cathy. I think you covered the pros very well. Maybe I should talk a bit about the cons. The cons are potential, but there are several. There's the potential impact on property owners, right? Concerns about increased regulations and requirements could lead to financial burdens and potentially affect rental property investments. There's potential affordability concerns. Increased costs for property owners may be passed on to tenants in the form of higher rents, potentially exacerbating affordability challenges. There's also potential for negative impact on housing supply with concerns that increased regulations may deter investment in the rental housing market and reduce housing availability. The proposed measures may impose additional administrative burdens on landlords, such as increased reporting requirements, documentation and compliance measures. These could be seen as time-consuming and costly, particularly for smaller landlords who may have limited resources. It could potentially impact their ability to manage rental properties effectively.
Additionally, the flexibility of landlords could potentially be reduced due to the expanded rights. So an example, certain provisions such as rent control or restrictions on evictions may limit a landlords' ability to adjust rents or terminate leases, which could impact their profitability or ability to respond to changing market conditions. As with any complex policy proposal, there may be unintended consequences that are difficult to predict. For example, attempts to regulate rental housing may have unintended impacts on property values, property taxes or local housing markets, which could have broader economic or social consequences. These are just a few potential issues that come to mind.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
So it sounds like this might be this age-old question of finding balance, right? Of course, renters need protections and of course, they need support I think particularly following the pandemic when housing really became such a central issue, of course, there's an affordability crisis happening across the country. But also some of these supportive measures can't necessarily come at the cost of reducing or deterring housing investment or housing development, which is also an important aspect of providing safe, supportive, affordable housing.
Cathy Danigelis:
Absolutely. It's definitely a lofty goal for the Biden Administration, but we'll see what happens.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
Absolutely. We've really been talking about a lot of these challenges and problems that have emerged in the last few months, but what I'm really hearing from both of you is that you're still working with clients, you're still seeing deals come across your desk, and you're still getting those deals done, right? There's still appetite in the market. There's still positive momentum happening. Can you tell me a little bit about any recent deals or recent examples of deals that speak to this positive aspect, this positive momentum in the market?
Cathy Danigelis:
We are definitely still seeing deals coming across our desk and getting across the finish line. I would say that construction loans that are using low-income housing tax credits are definitely moving forward. There's a few programs that do not use them such as the Accelerator Program in California, and we are seeing all of those move forward. I think that where we might be seeing a slight slowdown is in clients that purchase naturally-occurring affordable projects that are out there across the country. I think that the owners that currently own those projects are selling at prices that were maybe from a year ago and are not current with what's going on in the market, but that's the only slowdown I'd say, and that will probably pick up again. It's a temporary slowdown in those purchases. Al, your thoughts?
Al Beaumariage:
I completely agree, Cathy. Everything is business as usual with the exception of what I'll call the preservation transactions like you just described. There's a definite disconnect between buyers and sellers as it pertains to cap rates right now. That probably continues for another six months or so, Kelsi, before things start to balance out, but as recently as last month, we closed a 4% LIHTC deal down in Austin, Texas. Key provided a $25 million equity investment and $18 million equity bridge loan on our balance sheet, as well as a $40 million private placement for a total capital commitment of 82.6 million.
Kelsi Maree Borland:
This is great to hear. It's great to hear that these deals are getting done. Of course, we're working through some of this kind of transformation in the market, with this buyer-seller gap, but it's really great to hear that you guys are still getting deals done and making things happen, so thank you so much. This insight is so helpful, and we really appreciate you lending your time. Once again, we have been talking with Al Beaumariage and Cathy Danigelis at KeyBank. Thanks again, both of you.
Cathy Danigelis:
Thank you.
Al Beaumariage:
Thank you, Kelsi.
Geoffery Metz:
That concludes this episode brought to you by KeyBank and hosted on globest.com. I'm Geoffery Metz. Thanks for listening.
Diverse deposits and a strong capital position have ensured that KeyBank is thriving through a regional liquidity crunch.
This podcast and article were created in partnership with Globest.com and are being used with permission.
The Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse has exacerbated challenges for commercial real estate investors this year. In addition to inflation and a substantially higher cost of capital, the banking crisis has catalyzed a regional liquidity crunch, constraining access to capital for small- and mid-sized investors.
Although some regional banks are experiencing challenges fulfilling loans in their pipelines, some are thriving through the market uncertainty. Al Beaumariage, senior vice president and the affordable housing program manager at KeyBank, and Cathy Danigelis, western region manager at KeyBank, said that the bank’s diverse deposits have created a strong capital position, helping it maintain business as usual.
Banks Remain Active
A good old-fashioned bank run was the catalyst for the banking crisis. As SVB, Signature and other regional banks showed signs of instability, customers began pulling their deposits, which are used to support lending activity. “Last quarter, a number of banks were not able to close on loans in their pipeline,” says Danigelis. KeyBank’s deposit-based activity actually grew as a whole during that period, and KeyBank was able to step in on a number of loans.
The bank has maintained liquidity levels above 110% and a loan-to-deposit ratio below 90%, placing its deposit basis among the best in the industry. This allowed the bank to service existing clients and fund new loans, despite the newfound uncertainty in the banking sector.
During the first quarter, KeyBank had healthy private placement executions, as well as strong activity through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “On the heels of the SVB issues, both government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) stepped up and Freddie Mac even reduced its pricing,” says Beaumariage.
Proactive Client Conversations
During times of turmoil, people look for guidance and advice. For that reason, KeyBank focused on client connection, reaching out to clients to understand how the economic dislocation had impacted business.
“The majority of our clients are repeat clients, and they entrust their developments to KeyBank,” says Danigelis, adding that the firm’s team is made up of seasoned professionals. “We've each seen a number of downturns, and we're able to offer solutions to problems as they arise because we’ve likely seen them before.”
The bank had a strong position, but it was imperative to convey that message externally. In the immediate aftermath of the SVB failure, KeyBank communicated its core fundamentals to clients. “We heard that not every bank was reaching out to their clients,” adds Danigelis. “That’s the touch that we brought to our clients to give them the confidence to continue to go forward.”
It is this balance between financial stability and strong client relationships that has driven stability in the regional banking sector. “As a result of our efforts, a very small percentage of clients chose to diversify deposits,” explains Beaumariage. Though there is some uncertainty in the banking sector, there are still opportunities for real estate investors to remain active.
For more information
Contact Cathy Danigelis or Al Beaumariage. Visit key.com/affordable.
This is designed to provide general information only and is not comprehensive nor is it legal, accounting, or tax advice. All credit products are subject to collateral and/or credit approval, terms, conditions, and availability and subject to change. All rights reserved. Banking products and services are offered by KeyBank N.A.