CREF Corner Office Conversation with New York Life’s Tim McGinnis
The Mortgage Bankers Association released an interview with New York Life Investors Managing Director Tim McGinnis.
McGinnis shared his perspective on commercial real estate trends including technology and an increasing focus on leveraging data to make better business decisions. He serves on MBA’s Commercial/Multifamily Board of Governors.
The full video can be viewed here.
McGinnis, in Washington, D.C. for MBA’s annual Senior Executive and Next Gen Life Insurance Company Roundtable events, said approximately 25 life insurance companies were represented at the roundtable. “We get together mid-way through the year to talk about industry issues and what’s going on,” he said. “There’s an adage, ‘may you live in interesting times’ and this certainly is.”
MBA’s annual Life Company Senior Executive and Next Gen Roundtable events bring the senior-most commercial executives from life insurance company member firms as well as their next generation of leaders to discuss public policy, property trends and market dynamics.
Discussing how technology affects commercial real estate and New York Life, McGinnis cited some operational efficiencies that tech can bring. “In addition, we’re looking at data-driven decisions,” he said. “There’s so much data within our portfolio, within the marketplace. The real challenge is how do you absorb that data and analyze it to make proper business decisions?”
MBA’s first quarter 2019 commercial/multifamily real estate mortgage debt outstanding report said life insurance company lending made up approximately 15 percent of the overall market. For context, McGinnis addressed New York Life Investors’ current commercial real estate investment, noting commercial real estate is an important component of the company’s investment portfolio with outstanding investment at approximately $50 billion, which is made up of commercial real estate loans, CMBS holdings and real estate equity. At $33 billion, commercial mortgage loans make up a significant portion of the company’s real estate exposure and it offers products across the capital stack incluing both short-term and long-term financing as well as construction loans and construction-to-permanent financing offerings.
Explaining the value of industry engagement through MBA’s platform, McGinnis called MBA a critical part of the industry. “There’s legislative and regulatory advocacy that is important to its members, there’s an education aspect to it and there’s also research and analytics that are critical,” he said.
In CREF Corner Office Conversations, MBA talks one-on-one with commercial real estate finance leaders about their business and engagement with the industry. Other videos in the series can be viewed here.
