On Friday the FDIC issued guidance to banks in the form of a policy statement entitled Prudent Commercial Real Estate Loan Workouts . The stated purpose of the document is

It is intended to promote supervisory consistency, enhance the transparency of CRE workout transactions, and ensure that supervisory policies and actions do not inadvertently curtail the availability of credit to sound borrowers.

But it goes on to talk about accounting principles in dealing with distressed commercial real estate loans in determining their reporting status – accural vs a non-accrual loan. If you’re working with banks’ distressed commercial real estate loans then it is fair to say this is a must read. This document should give you insight into what bank’s need to take into consideration knowing that reporting is tightening up. I’m going to try to hit the highlights for you in this post since this is a government produced document and I don’t want my readers falling asleep.

This is the first of a two-part post How to Workout Distressed Commercial Real Estate Loans (and Be Good with the FDIC).

I’ll break it down with excerpts section by section:

III.  Loan Workout Arrangements

Loan workout arrangements need to be designed to help ensure that the institution maximizes its recovery potential. Further, renewed or restructured loans to borrowers who have the ability to repay their debts under reasonable modified terms will not be subject to adverse classification solely because the value of the underlying collateral has declined to an amount that is less than the loan balance.

So in short, if the CRE borrower and guarantors can write the check and you’d rather extend the loan, restructure the loan or what have you , the fact that the property is worth less than is owed is not the determining factor for whether or not the bank has to action on a CRE loan in technical default (default for reasons other than non-payment). It also say that bank’s must do whatever will allow them to maximize capital recovery (essentially).

A.  Analyzing Repayment Capacity of the Borrower

Basically look at the whole borrower and the guarantors. If they have the ability to continue to pay and their future ability to pay is defensible then carry on.

B.  Evaluating Guarantees

A good guarantor with a solid contract means you can keep reporting the loan is in good standing.

C.  Assessing Collateral Values

A new appraisal may not be necessary in instances where an internal evaluation by the institution appropriately updates the original appraisal assumptions to reflect current market conditions and provides an estimate of the collateral’s fair value for impairment analysis.

I think this is important because it seems like it’s realistic appraisals that determine liquidation potential. If you’re in the transaction business this is important for obvious reasons.

The documentation on the collateral’s market value should demonstrate a full understanding of the property’s current “as is” condition (considering the property’s highest and best use) and other relevant risk factors affecting value.

If you were thinking you were making condos but there is no condo market so now you have apartments you’ve got to say it. This is a big one because with some $90+ billion in bad construction debt out there there are a lot of projects that are not going to take the shape that was originally envisioned for them.

…if the institution intends to work with the borrower to get a project to stabilized occupancy, then the institution can consider the “as stabilized” market value in its collateral assessment for credit risk grading

Huh? Are projected stabilized values anything like reality today? If you’re a borrower this is great if you’re a bank you’re probably just delaying your troubles. This looks like a big get-out-of-jail-free card for a well funded borrower. I think it shows that if you can put together a real plan that looks good on paper you can buy yourself a lot of time.

Examiners generally are not expected to challenge the underlying valuation assumptions, including discount rates and capitalization rates, used in appraisals or evaluations when these assumptions differ only in a limited way from norms that would generally be associated with the collateral under review.

Make it believable and you get a pass.

This concludes part one. In part two we’ll go through

• Renewals and Restructuring of Maturing Loans
• Classification of Troubled CRE Loans Dependent on the Sale of Collateral for Repayment
• Implications for Interest Accrual
• Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses (ALLL)

Thanks for reading.

Are you a commercial real estate or workout professional? Weigh in on this topic in the comments below.

Read the document without downloading here:

Commercial Loan Workouts _ FDIC-Prudent CRE Loan Workouts –

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