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CREFC Signal: Our New Podcast

July 21, 2026

CREFC recently launched CREFC Signal, a podcast featuring timely conversations with leaders across the commercial real estate finance industry.

The inaugural episode, hosted by CREFC President & CEO Lisa Pendergast, traces CREFC’s evolution from its founding through decades of market cycles to its role today as the leading voice of the commercial real estate finance industry. Lisa is joined by past CREFC Chairs and industry leaders Leland F. Bunch, Annemarie DiCola, Chris Hoeffel, Rick Jones, Dan Olsen, and Patrick Sargent.

What's next: Stay tuned for the next episode which will examine recently released bank capital proposals from U.S. regulators, what they could mean for CRE lenders, investors, and the broader market, and CREFC’s plan of action in response. 

Listen to the first episode and subscribe for future conversations shaping commercial real estate finance.

Where to listen: 

• Signal Podcast Homepage
• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify

We welcome your ideas and suggestions for future podcast episodes and guests. Contact us at info@crefc.org.

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New York State Data Center Ban

July 21, 2026

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) just signed into law a one-year moratorium on the building of new hyperscale data centers in the State of New York. 

What they're saying: In the announcement, Governor Hochul noted that the increase in New Yorkers’ energy bills was a key reason to sign the data center moratorium:

Why it matters: Across the country, opposition to data centers is growing.

• The issue is quickly becoming a flashpoint in the 2026 midterms, with many seeing the support or opposition of data centers as a litmus test for candidates on the state and federal level.
  
• Many have called for a review of the impact data centers have on the environment, specifically the effect they have on the drinking water and utility bills for residents. Data centers also attract criticism due to their noise and size.

If moratoriums on data centers gain steam across the country and locations for data center construction become more scarce, it could heighten competition and increase costs.

• An increase in costs could affect data center financing across the industry.

What’s next: The State of New York is the first state to enact a data center ban. However, 14 other states have proposed or introduced legislation to ban or halt the construction of data centers. For a full list, please click here.

Please contact James Montfort (jmontfort@crefc.org) with any questions.

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Forums in Focus: Joint Transparency Initiative Targeting the SASB Market

July 21, 2026

To address the ongoing structural evolution of the CRE finance landscape, the Investment-Grade (IG) Bondholders Forum and the Issuer Forum recently convened a joint session aimed at enhancing reporting practices and transparency across the SASB market.

Acknowledging that the market requires data transmission frameworks that match its modern complexity, the two forums reviewed several primary operational areas to drive consistency, mitigate data friction, and explore the feasibility of establishing collaborative industry best practices.

Key Areas for Reporting Enhancement

• Data Room Standardization: To build efficiency during the pre-marketing and structural phases of a transaction, the Forums agreed to work towards developing a standardized checklist of feasible documents for SASB data rooms. While complete information is often subject to ongoing negotiations before a deal is finalized, establishing a consistent template—including baseline appraisal metrics, underwriting assumptions, and third-party reports—is intended to streamline due diligence.
• Capital Stack Reporting Clarity: For pari passu structures and loans with complex capital stacks, tracking distinct debt layers remains an operational priority. The forums noted that establishing a standardized format for reporting capital stack details is an objective they intend to work towards. The Issuer Forum noted that existing master tape data lines could potentially be converted into a consistent file type, while CREFC indicated that this standardized capital structure layout could be integrated as a dedicated tab within the existing reporting Annex to help investors accurately capture transaction metrics.
• Multi-Property Tracking and Releases: In multi-property SASB transactions, ensuring that investors receive timely visibility into asset releases and subsequent property-level financial metrics is critical. The IG Forum has agreed to work towards providing clear examples of transactions where property release tracking functions consistently, alongside examples where challenges persist. These case studies are intended to serve as a helpful baseline for productive engagement with the broader servicing community.
• Optimizing Financial Data Flows: Addressing delays in property-level financial reporting was identified as an area for joint focus, reflecting the broader industry push for timely, transparent, and consistent reporting. The forums discussed exploring the feasibility of potential measures, such as implementing system flags to denote when financials are received, which could help market participants isolate whether reporting delays stem from borrower-level data delivery or subsequent processing timelines. 
• Post-Modification Visibility: To maintain secondary market clarity, the forums highlighted that working towards standardizing the practice of posting completed loan modification documentation to trustee sites, once agreements are legally finalized, may support investor visibility. The forums warmth to this concept reflects a shared understanding that consistent access to updated loan parameters benefits the entire ecosystem.
• Consistent Fee Disclosure: The conversation also covered fee disclosure frameworks within SASB transactions. The forums discussed evaluating a potential, threshold-based approach to help ensure transparency is balanced, predictable, and consistent across the wider industry.

Next Steps and Collaborative Implementation

Moving forward, the initiative aims to transition into a broader, collaborative phase focused on assessing how potential enhancements might align with the technical and operational capabilities of key market counterparties:

• CREFC will work towards drafting a preliminary capital structure layout template for the Annex to gather initial, informal stakeholder feedback.
• The Issuer and IG Forums have agreed to work towards outlining a recommended baseline data room document checklist.
• CREFC plans coordinate a constructive dialogue with the servicing and special servicing communities to collaboratively review operational mechanics, with the goal of discussing how property release reporting, financial data tracking, and modification postings might be approached without creating undue cost friction or administrative burdens.
  

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Reconciliation 3.0 Update

July 21, 2026

Last week House Republicans passed the instructions to begin the third reconciliation bill through the Budget Committee and will consider it on the House Floor this week. 

Why it matters: The reconciliation process allows certain spending priorities to pass the senate via a simple majority. The One Big Beautiful Bill and the more recent funding for ICE, customs and border patrol were passed via reconciliation. 

By the numbers: The instructions provide for $95 billion across the following committees: 

• Armed Services: $60 Billion
• Agriculture: $12 Billion
• Intel: $13 Billion
• Admin: $10 Billion

Go deeper: The framework includes a scaled-back version of the SAVE America Act, as well as funding related to the Iran war and farm aid. 

• While leadership is trying to move this swiftly, there are a number of issues that will impact this partisan package. 
• Fiscal hawks are upset that there are no “pay-fors’ for the package, defense hawks think the funding level is far too low, and some conservatives want the full SAVE America Act included.

The Senate picture is also complicated. Sen. Ron Johnson is taking over as Senate Budget Committee Chair following Sen. Lindsey Graham’s death and will now play a central role in shaping the reconciliation package. 

Some Senate Republicans are already criticizing the House approach as rushed and incomplete, arguing it does not include the White House’s full supplemental request or President Trump’s push for an additional $350 billion in defense funding

Contact David McCarthy (dmccarthy@crefc.org) with questions.

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Fed Chair and Vice Chair Highlight Supervisory Reforms

July 21, 2026

Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman outlined the agency’s modernization agenda: Bowman via a speech at the Bank Policy Institute London Conference and Warsh before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees. 

Warsh called supervisory reform potentially "as dramatic" as his monetary policy views and praised Bowman's work over the past year.

• Before the House Financial Services Committee the next day, Warsh went further on specifics, tying supervision reform to a broader push to keep the Fed inside its statutory lane.
• He also confirmed reputational risk has been "completely removed" from the supervisory dashboard.

Bowman, who chairs the Financial Stability Board’s Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation Committee, encouraged bank supervisors to:

• Prioritize material risk;
• Tailor supervision and regulation by risk profile;
• Prioritize transparency and accountability in regulatory and supervisory processes; and
• Support responsible innovation. 

Other Key Themes

• Capital: In reference to the proposed Basel capital framework, Warsh said he's weighing public comments alongside "strong capital ratios, strong liquidity ratios, strong supervision, and strong market discipline" as the ingredients of safety and soundness. 
• Tailoring: Warsh rejected a "one-size-fits-all" approach and argued that community banks and agricultural lenders are best served with tailored oversight.
  • Bowman's speech framed this identically: a community bank should not be regulated like a multi-trillion-dollar global institution.
• Asset thresholds. Bowman said the Fed is working to index static fixed-dollar thresholds to economic growth and inflation, so banks do not drift into heavier regulatory tiers purely from nominal growth.
• Coordination over unilateralism. Both officials emphasized working jointly with the FDIC and OCC. Warsh specifically flagged the GENIUS Act stablecoin rulemaking deadline as an area where he wants a single, unified interagency proposal rather than separate rules.

Warsh also faced pointed questions about a Bank of America dinner Bowman attended during an FOMC blackout period, now under Inspector General review. 

• He responded that he has deliberately avoided looking into this event to avoid compromising the IG's review
• According to American Banker, Bowman stated in writing that she stayed within ethics rules and did not discuss monetary policy during the dinner. 

CREFC will continue to closely monitor important regulatory developments at the Fed and other relevant regulatory developments. 

Contact Sairah Burki (sburki@crefc.org) with questions.

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Introducing CREFC Signal: A New Podcast from the CRE Finance Council

July 16, 2026

We're excited to introduce CREFC Signal, a new podcast from the CRE Finance Council featuring timely conversations with leaders across the commercial real estate finance market.
  
Through expert perspectives and real-time insights, CREFC Signal explores the forces shaping our industry—from market dynamics and capital flows to public policy, regulation, and emerging trends. Designed for CREFC members and the broader CRE finance community, each episode provides thoughtful discussion and practical perspectives on the issues influencing commercial real estate finance.

Our inaugural episode traces the evolution of the CRE Finance Council, from its founding through decades of market cycles to its role today as the leading voice of the commercial real estate finance industry.
  
Hosted by CREFC President & CEO Lisa Pendergast, the episode features past CREFC Chairs and industry leaders Leland F. Bunch (BofA Securities), Annemarie DiCola (Trepp), Chris Hoeffel (Counterpoint SRE), Rick Jones (Jackstay Ventures), Dan Olsen (KeyBank), and Patrick Sargent (Alston & Bird). Together, they reflect on the milestones that shaped the organization, the challenges CREFC helped the industry navigate, and the relationships that defined its growth.
  
From advancing market standards and advocacy efforts to fostering a connected and informed industry community, this conversation highlights the people, partnerships, and pivotal moments that built CREFC—and continue to shape its future.

Listen to the first episode today and subscribe for future conversations with the leaders shaping commercial real estate finance. 

Spotify  Apple Podcasts

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