The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has released its year-end ranking of commercial and multifamily mortgage servicers as of Dec. 31, 2011, and at the top of the list of firms is Wells Fargo with $437.7 billion in U.S. master and primary servicing, followed by PNC Real Estate/Midland Loan Services with $355.1 billion, Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC with $176.5 billion, Bank of America Merrill Lynch with $115 billion, and KeyBank Real Estate Capital with $108.2 billion. Wells Fargo, PNC/Midland, Berkadia, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and KeyBank are the largest master and primary servicers of commercial/multifamily loans in U.S. CMBS, CDO and other ABS; PNC/Midland, MetLife, GEMSA Loan Services LP, Prudential Asset Resources and Northwestern Mutual are the largest servicers for life companies; and PNC/Midland, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank Commercial Real Estate, Berkadia and GEMSA Loan Services are the largest Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac servicers.
PNC/Midland ranks as the top master and primary servicer of commercial bank and savings institution loans; GEMSA the top credit company, pension fund, REIT, and investment fund servicer; PNC/Midland the top FHA and Ginnie Mae servicer; Wells Fargo the top for loans held in warehouse facilities; and PNC/Midland the top for other investor type loans.
A primary servicer is generally responsible for collecting loan payments from borrowers, performing property inspections and other property-related activities. A master servicer is typically responsible for collecting cash and data from primary servicers and then providing that cash and data, through trustees, to investors. Unless otherwise noted, MBA tabulations that combine different roles do not double-count loans for which a single servicer performs multiple roles.
MBA also asked firms to provide information about loans on which they are the named special servicer—that is, where the firm stands ready to service the loan should special problems develop, such as delinquency. The largest named special servicers were LNR Partners, Inc., CWCapital LLC & CWCapital Asset Management and C-III Asset Management LLC.
The MBA survey also collected servicing volumes for loans on commercial/multifamily properties located outside the United States. Hatfield Philips International, an LNR Property Company ranks as the largest master and primary servicer of non-U.S. commercial/multifamily mortgages, followed by Deutsche Bank, PNC/Midland, Manulife Financial/John Hancock and GEMSA.
