The APB

We aim to promote the interests of property bankers, foster a better understanding of property finance within the banking and property sectors, provide a recognised body as a forum for discussions between lenders and other property industry institutions, keep our members up to date with events in the market and provide relevant networking opportunities

Bank of China leads lenders for US real estate

Bank of China is emerging as one of the largest non-US banks investing in the troubled US commercial property sector, and its local bankers are scouring the market for new deals. Click here to read more

Hypo set to create biggest German ‘bad bank’

Hypo Real Estate, the German lender nationalised as a result of the financial crisis, plans to create what could be the country’s biggest 'bad bank', spinning off up to €210bn of assets in a step towards an anticipated return to private ownership. Click here to read more

HSH Nordbank in UK retreat

erman bank HSH Nordbank is to close its UK property lending arm and start winding down its operations to focus on its core German lending division. Click here to read more

Fitch: banks’ 2011 loans timebomb

European banks’ exposure to commercial property will remain a “material credit issue” in 2010 and become a “particular concern” in 2011 and 2012, when a high volume of property loans fall due, ratings agency Fitch warned this week. Click here to read more

Bank buyout

Landesbank Berlin buys out senior lenders to Goldman Sachs London HQ to protect position.
German bank Landesbank Berlin (LBB) has taken control of the debt secured against Goldman Sachs’ London headquarters after buying out three senior lenders in an innovative bid to protect its position.Click here to read more

HSBC banker warns of 'wrong sort' of property recovery

Guy Morrell sees signs that improved performance could be short lived Given the experience of the past two years, one would think fund managers would be happy with any recovery in the property market, no matter how small or what shape. Click here to read more

CFS plans to wind down Britannia's high-risk loans

Co-operative Financial Services has placed £9.3bn of potentially problematic loans made by the Britannia Building Society into a specialist vehicle called Optimum. CFS said it planned to wind down the Optimum loan book, which includes high-risk self-certification and buy-to-let mortgages. Click here to read more

RBS to ring-fence £39bn in APS

Royal Bank of Scotland will put £39bn of its £91bn commercial property loans into the government's asset protection scheme, the bank revealed last Friday. It also plansto reduce its UK property loan book from £43bn to £30bn over the next five years -a 27% drop. Click here to read more

Lehman pair in Euro debt play

Two former top Lehman Brothers bankers, Natalie Howard and James Wright, have set up a new business to invest in the real estate debt markets across Europe. Click here to read more

Ex-Tishman boss adds muscle to Bar Cap workout

Mark Kingston is latest property professional to be enlisted to help banks repair property loan books Tishman Speyer’s former UK head Mark Kingston is advising Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, on the management of its £5bn European property loan book. Click here to read more

Goldman's back

Investment bank leviathan ready to spend $6.3bn — and says UK is good value. Goldman Sachs has amassed $6.3bn of equity to invest in real estate worldwide, which will include a return to the UK real estate investment market for the first time in five years. Click here to read more

Helical raises the bar at Little Britain

Mike Slade’s company to manage City office complex at 200 Aldersgate. Helical Bar is on the verge of a return to the City of London office market. Click here to read more

Flowers cries foul over Hypo buyout

Funds advised by US private equity group JC Flowers & Co have taken legal action to try to prevent the full nationalisation of Hypo Real Estate. Click here to read more

The banker: return to lending discipline

Easy credit is a thing of the past.Banks are not lending and many people hope for a magical “big bang” solution. I’m not sure why, given that the 1990s downturn took years to work through. Click here to read more

The banker: limited activity, no surprise

Banks are behaving as expected. There is a feeling between surprise and frustration that more lenders have not foreclosed on loans. It seems strange that such a consensus is emerging, as this is the very activity for which banks received so much criticism in previous recessions. Click here to read more

DEVELOPER’S VIEW: 9th Oct 2009

Could now be the time to hug a banker? Like many of you who are enjoying the excellent autobiography, Leading From the Front, I spend most of my nights in bed with Gerald Ronson. He makes it all sound so straightforward and I envy his energy and drive. Gerald is careful not to give too much away, leaving us poor mortals to try to make sense of this helter-skelter world.Click here to read more

Savills names top 23 UK commercial property lenders

Savills has named the UK commercial property market’s top lenders for the second half of the year and said the number of banks willing to lend more than £20m has almost doubled to 23 since March. Click here to read more

Bidders queue up as Lloyds sells off £250m Silverburn

Lloyds Banking Group offers “stapled finance” for its Pollock shopping centre. Silverburn, the 1m sq ft shopping mall in Pollock, near Glasgow, was brought to the market this week in the hope of a sale by the end of the year. Click here to read more

EGTV: banking chiefs predict more asset sales but not 'tsunami'

The UK's two largest property lenders have said that the number of assets they brought to the market for sale would increase - but that there would not be a flood of forced sales. Click here to read more

Consensual restructuring - the best answer to distressed debt

ollowing the boom in the property market, which was fuelled by the banks' enthusiasm to provide debt, lenders have been left nursing a hangover consisting of troubled loans. Click here to read more

WestImmo chief says demand for debt in Europe is 'woeful'

While liquidity in the European banking sector is improving, the demand for debt is "woeful", says WestImmo London branch head Peter Denton. Click here to read more.

Great Portland eyes Eurohypo tie-in

West End-focused REIT in talks to join forces over £200m redevelopment. Click here to read more.

All events are open to members. The events secretary will supply details and costs of each event. Booking is on a first come first serve basis. Those events that are open to non-members will be announced seperately. Members log in for more details.
Janaury	The first Margot & Manja Drinks of the year. An area has been booked at Corney & Barrow City Point from 5.30pm and the APB will once again sponsor the first round.
February	APB offer 20% off Conferences - Commerical Real Estate Risk Management, Regressioni Methodology vs. Cash Flow Simulation
February	The 2010 Annual APB Pub Quiz
March	We will be hosting a joint evening seminar with RICS during the first week of march, date and details to be confirmed in due course.
Other information and special offers for APB members:	MIPIM: The membership has been offered discounted rates to stay at Le Mas Candille during the week of MIPIM. PARAGON SPORTS MANAGEMENT: The APB worked closely with Paragon to arrange the speakers for the APB Dinner last year and as a result they are keen to strengthen their relationship with the APB and our members. They represent several international sporting personalities (Strauss, Cook, Bopara, Catt, Geraghty, Kennedy & Tufnell) as well as providing Hospitality and Tickets to a large number of events and experiences, both in the UK and overseas. The launch dinner is March is held at The Park Lane Hotel. Some other examples are listed below: England v Ireland & England v Wales \| Royal Ascot \| The Brit Awards \| Paragon Foundation Launch Dinner \| 2010 Formula 1 season \| World Cup Football - South Africa \| Major Horseracing meetings \| Champions League football \| Wimbledon Championships \| All Concerts at All UK venues \| Paragon Golf Day at the Buckinghamshire golf club

For more videos click here


	Andrew Goodbody The APB President gives his regular overview of current issues affecting our members together with a round up of feedback from members.
	Margot Waddup Margot keeps us up to date on the APB’s events diary
	Guest Blog Jane Roberts from Real Estate Capital magazine considers the recovery in property lending in 2010

The Association of Property Bankers was founded in 1991 by a small group of UK property bankers.

It now has over 300 members from almost 60 different lending organisations.