Providence native Michael A. Lee has more than 30 years of banking experience, including stints with Hospital Trust, Bank of Boston and FleetBoston. Most recently he was the head of Sovereign Bank’s Commercial Real Estate Workout group.
Starting immediately, Lee will be lead Santander Real Estate Capital, Sovereign’s new group dedicated to the real estate needs of its customers. He also will be the bank’s senior executive in the Ocean State.
PBN: How many of your commercial customers require real estate banking? Do you anticipate this division will grow corporate business?
LEE: Approximately one-third of our commercial customers require real estate banking products and services. How the division grows is based on our business growth and performance.
PBN: Has the commercial real estate business bottomed out? Do you see a greater pace of activity from here going forward?
LEE: Using credit metrics, delinquencies, non-performing loans, provisions and charge-offs, our portfolio trends appear to have stabilized. We expect to expand our client base even though the industry as a whole continues to de-leverage.
PBN: Do you anticipate hiring to fill out your office staff in Providence?
LEE: Sovereign has always had a strong presence in Providence. We have more than 750 team members in Rhode Island alone. We have a solid long-term growth strategy in place for the U.S. Rhode Island and Providence will continue to play a big role in this strategy.
PBN: Does the creation of the real estate division come as the result of your customers asking for those types of services, or is it more a case of anticipating their needs?
LEE: The group was created to centralize our commercial real estate strategy into one division to serve client needs. We want to provide a broad range of products and services to existing clients and prospects, delivered with the expertise of Sovereign professionals who have broad knowledge of banking and, in particular, commercial real estate.
PBN: Will you be specializing in a specific piece of the real estate lending business, say for small businesses, or do you expect to cover the entire marketplace?
LEE: We support the broader marketplace by harnessing the strength of our global organization to effectively deliver products and services through local channels. We have the capability of providing specific expertise in particular areas, including project-based construction lending and multifamily lending.
