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On this episode of Bisnow Reports, we hear from Sonny Kalsi, a co-CEO of Bentall GreenOak, to help make sense of the banking crisis that has already led to two U.S. bank failures and the takeover of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse, and to assess what it means for commercial real estate.
The closure of Signature Bank, one of the most active lenders to New York property owners, was a particular shock to the heart of the industry. Kalsi said BGO was one of the many firms that moved deposits out of Signature on Friday as Silicon Valley Bank was being taken over by the federal government.
"Our CFO and team had already been working on 'who's next,' and top of the list were Signature and First Republic, and they actually got almost all of our money out on Friday of both, which was remarkable in hindsight," Kalsi said. "It was definitely harrowing, for sure."
Kalsi remarked on the difference between the collapses — the second- and third-biggest in U.S. history — and the largest, Washington Mutual in 2008, which took two weeks and saw a much smaller run on deposits than Signature and SVB.
He also spoke about how BGO and Related turned over the keys to an office building they owned in Queens, and more broadly about how the crisis in banking confidence could speed the road to a recession — and create new opportunities for companies with capital.
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