Cash management accounts (CMAs) play an integral role in commercial real estate transactions that require secure financing. These accounts are frequently used to control and balance competing interests between lenders and borrowers relating to cash flows in commercial real estate operations.
CMAs have historically been used for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) as well as large non-bank transactions, including merger and acquisition transactions. But they’re often bogged down by legacy processes, such as analog forms and paper-laden workflows. Although the purpose of a CMA is relatively simple, its implementation and administration can be complicated by outdated management practices. What the industry needs is an automated system for managing CMA services that optimizes efficiency and helps to mitigate risk by transforming a manual, paper-based process into a digital workflow.
Embracing Automated Payment Processing
The CMA marketplace is ripe for a secure and scalable online ecosystem. Financial technology that digitizes and streamlines processing and workflow is the ideal solution. Users also need a digital dashboard—accessible via desktop or mobile device—for managing CMA disbursements and providing transparency to deal parties. Payments must be easy to initiate, manage, and track online—at an individual level or in bulk. Finally, it’s essential that lenders, servicers, and commercial real estate owners have secure access to real time information.
“CMAs have always been a pain point in the industry,” says Marcy Burns, senior vice president at PNC and national director of treasury management real estate. “We have invested heavily in understanding the commercial mortgage servicing space, and we realized that technology could reduce much of the pain associated with CMAs.”
Simplifying the CMA process has proven elusive—until now. PNC is modernizing the process with an innovative new platform called PNC PAID. The sophisticated system facilitates the management of waterfall payment administration and the authorization of commercial real estate loans.
Digital solutions bring a new level of speed and convenience to the management of commercial real estate deals. Automation also provides an alternative to manual processing of payments. It enables lenders, servicers, and borrowers to view all of their CMAs in one place. “We’ve taken a leadership role in terms of using automation to streamline the CMA process,” says Rob Sandt, senior vice president at PNC. “We have replaced a manual, labor-intensive paper process with an automated digital experience.”
Improving CMA Solutions
PNC envisions a future in which CMA services are increasingly driven by automation. The bank is committed to continually refining and expanding its technology to stay ahead of market trends and client needs.
“We’re helping our lenders and servicers, as well as our traditional real estate clients, when CMAs are required for financing,” says Burns. “It can be a very complicated journey with CMAs. But we’re also closely aligned with commercial mortgage servicers, and our onboarding and technology will help them and other downstream service providers.”
Automation in the commercial mortgage servicing space is rapidly evolving. New CMA technology on the horizon will integrate additional data sources and introduce new tools to support loan servicing.
Brilliant Begins Here
PNC can provide innovative solutions to help you optimize your business processes. For more information, reach out to your PNC Treasury Management Officer, or contact us.
