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On Monday, May 6, the $4.4 billion, Westbury, N.Y.-based Jovia Financial Credit Union officially launched its wholly-owned commercial real estate services CUSO, Jovia Commercial Lending LLC.
The CUSO was designed to support small financial institutions including credit unions, community banks, commercial mortgage brokers and lenders with the management and/or expansion of their commercial real estate lending services. It is being led by President Casey Mauldin, who is also Jovia Financial's chief revenue officer and chief lending officer. Other CUSO leaders include Treasurer Karen Smith and Secretary Howard Shim, who are Jovia Financial's CFO and vice president of business lending, respectively.
In regard to the CUSO's staffing, Mauldin noted that as the CUSO scales, its leaders expect to assign and potentially scale dedicated staff members solely to CUSO operations.
Jovia Commercial Lending will support multiple back-office functions for small lending institutions across the nation including credit unions and community banks. For institutions in the New York City Metropolitan area specifically, it will offer commercial loan origination services as well as review, structure, underwrite and close commercial loan leads generated for a financial institution in accordance with loan policy, underwriting guidelines and closing procedures, Jovia Financial said.
Back-office functions that the CUSO plans to support include commercial credit underwriting, pricing guidance, credit analysis, portfolio management and loan structuring. It will also review banking and credit history and third-party reports, and provide risk rating recommendations.
In addition, Jovia Financial said Jovia Business Services team members will provide annual credit reviews of current financial and credit information of commercial real estate loans in a portfolio to meet credit risk management requirements. They will also provide collateral analysis reviews based on current market conditions, stress testing reviews and covenant compliance analysis reviews.
"Underwriting a commercial loan requires significant investment in staff, technology, due diligence and adherence to the respective state and federal regulatory requirements. This is often a challenge or even an impossibility for some institutions," Mauldin said. "Our experienced team removes the obstacles and burdens while taking on these tasks, allowing clients to grow their portfolios and reduce expenses. By leveraging our dedicated infrastructure, credit unions and financial institutions have the opportunity to expand or build their commercial lending portfolios, stay on budget, accelerate underwriting and properly manage their portfolio."
Mauldin said Jovia Commercial Lending is currently providing underwriting services to an established credit union and has been in contact with others interested in its offerings.
"We anticipate further engagement opportunities with additional credit unions and financial institutions as we expand our outreach," he added. "With all the regulatory and economic challenges that credit unions are facing today, we know that these obstacles are hindering their efforts to address new opportunities or existing portfolios. There's a strong demand and Jovia is equipped with the resources, expertise and staff to meet the needs of the marketplace."
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
