HYDERABAD, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Recently, Berkadia and Wells Fargo organized and hosted the Commercial Real Estate (“CRE”) Symposium in Hyderabad, India. The event marks the third gathering hosted by the two companies in the last three years. Prominent participants included S&P Global Ratings, Key National Bank, K&L Gates, Bryan Cave, LLP, Strategic Property Associates, Fitch Ratings, ReadyCap, Morningstar Credit Ratings and the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC).

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Organizers, panelists, and speakers at the 2017 CRE Symposium in Hyderabad (Photo: Business Wire)

Symposium attendees report that events like these are critical to the continued growth of the Indian BPO sector that supports the origination, servicing, surveillance and sale of commercial real estate loans and properties.

More than 900 participants attended the event over two days to gain insight into the U.S. CRE markets from both a servicer’s and lender’s perspective. Speakers covered topics such as the U.S. economic landscape, customer service and special servicing, innovations in Government Sponsored Entity (GSE) lending, changes in the Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) industry post implementation of risk retention, and career development.

“The Indian BPO market that serves the U.S. CRE market is only about fifteen years old. In that time, the complexity and quality of the work being done by our teams here has expanded exponentially, and is becoming a vital and vibrant part of the U.S. CRE landscape. For bright, career-minded students and women in particular, I think it’s one of the best places to be,” said Dan Bober, executive vice president of Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Servicing.

“Three years and three events later, as India moves from back office support to mainstream servicing and underwriting, we are looking forward to continued growth in our Hyderabad office,” said Jan Sternin, senior vice president and managing director of Berkadia.

Hyderabad was cited by Standard & Poors as one of the top locations for U.S. CRE mortgage servicing in their 2014 RatingsDirect report Location, Location, Location: The Top Cities for U.S. Commercial Mortgage Servicing.

“Hyderabad as a city has the highest concentration of U.S. commercial real estate analysts outside of the United States. Symposiums like this provide a great opportunity for the analysts to gain deep insight into the CRE industry. Both Berkadia and Wells Fargo invest heavily in their training programs and these events are an important part of the overall learning continuum for the Berkadia and Wells Fargo teams in India,” said Ned Mody, country manager for Berkadia’s operations in India.

“As Hyderabad’s importance in the commercial real estate servicing sector continues to grow it is incumbent upon us to provide access to industry leaders to share their knowledge and perspective with our team members” said Alan Kronovet, executive vice president and Head of Wells Fargo Commercial Mortgage Servicing. “We are excited to make this investment in our team members’ development, and the development of commercial real estate expertise in India. It has been a wonderful experience for all who participated.”

Wells Fargo Enterprise Global Services (EGS) is a critical component of Wells Fargo’s strategy to leverage distinct advantages in doing business in a global environment. Wells Fargo EGS - India is primarily an extension of the technology, operations, knowledge services, and corporate support teams of Wells Fargo in the U.S. It engages in application development and support, testing, other technology functions, international operations, knowledge support, middle and back-end banking process solutions for a wide spectrum of Wells Fargo’s needs. The entities currently have over 8500 team members across their offices in Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai.

Founded in July 2002, Berkadia’s offshore operations in Hyderabad employ nearly 700 people, supporting all aspects of their lending, investment sales and servicing operations. Berkadia was named BPO of the Year for a record second consecutive year by CMO Asia for its outstanding real estate services operations in Hyderabad as well as one of Asia’s Top Employer Brands.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,600 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 42 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 269,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 27 on Fortune’s 2016 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. News, insights and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.

Wells Fargo Commercial Real Estate provides a comprehensive set of banking and financing solutions to experienced owners, operators and developers, real estate investment funds and real estate investment trusts (REITs), including lending, syndications, debt placement, equity raising and underwriting, mergers and acquisitions, and a servicing platform. For more information about Wells Fargo’s commercial real estate platform visit: www.wellsfargo.com/realestate.

About Berkadia®:

Berkadia, a joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway and Leucadia National Corporation, is an industry leading specialty finance company providing comprehensive capital solutions and investment sales advisory and research services for multifamily and commercial properties. Berkadia is among the largest, highest rated and most respected primary, master and special servicers in the industry.

As a Freddie Mac Program Plus lender, Fannie Mae DUS(r) Multifamily Seller/Servicer, life insurance company correspondent, and HUD, MAP and LEAN originator and servicer, Berkadia provides access to capital and provides flexible and customized lending and servicing solutions for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation and refinance of multifamily and commercial properties. Berkadia also provides interim and short-term financing through its Proprietary Bridge Lending Program. To learn more about Berkadia, please visit www.berkadia.com.

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