Banks on the Cleanse in the US: ING Cleans Out Toxic Real Estate Loans in San Francisco, Taking a Big Loss - Economic Scenarios

Banks on the Cleanse in the US: ING Cleans Out Toxic Real Estate Loans in San Francisco, Taking a Big Loss - Economic Scenarios

Banks are clearing their balance sheets of troubled commercial real estate (CRE) loans, trying to make room for new productive financing. Dutch megabank ING recently sold a large two-tower office complex, Market Center, in San Francisco at a 75% discount to its 2019 value. The move reflects the crisis in the commercial real estate market and the “extend and pretend” strategies used to avoid defaults that no longer work, resulting in losses in U.…