NEW YORK CITY-Eastern Union Funding has hired banking industry veteran Richard Cassin to lead a newly launched credit quality division, the firm announced Monday.
Under Cassin's leadership, according to the announcement, the credit quality division will bolster Eastern Union's relationship with the banking community by making mortgage approvals happen more quickly and it will elevate conversion rates on loan submissions. The unit will work in tandem with a bank's underwriting, credit and processing departments.
“Dick Cassin is ideally qualified to ensure that Eastern Union maintains and enhances our relationships with lenders,” managing partner Abraham Bergman—who holds overall management responsibility for the credit quality unit—says in the release. “He understands first-hand that borrowers and lenders share a common interest in closing only the best and most secure transactions.”
“This is a company that is experiencing triple digit growth and it wants to make sure that growth goes hand-in-hand with quality,” a spokesman tells GlobeSt.com.
With more than 30 years of commercial real estate experience, Cassin has directed regional offices in commercial lending for several market-leading lending institutions. His national scope encompasses major retail, residential and commercial developers, and he has managed and built dynamic commercial real estate lending teams throughout the United States and Canada.
“Eastern Union has won the admiration of the commercial lending world thanks to its market knowledge, market presence and strong deal flow,” Cassin says in the release. “My aim is to ensure that when lenders receive an Eastern Union loan submission, they can continue to expect it to be both creditworthy and ready for prompt processing and approval.”
Prior to the new appointment, Cassin was managing director at TransAtlantic Capital Advisors. While there he brokered a 20-deal portfolio of multifamily loans valued at $100 million. Previously Cassin was SVP and head of the commercial real estate division at Commerce Bank. After Commerce Bank was acquired by TD Bank in 2007, Cassin headed TD's commercial real estate group and was responsible for expanding lending areas throughout the Northeast.
In addition, he was a SVP and regional real estate lending director at Washington Mutual, where he managed a commercial real estate portfolio valued at nearly $2 billion. He also served with Chase Manhattan Bank as VP and division director, with a focus on credit and commercial lending. Cassin is a licensed real estate salesperson in New York State.
On pace to close $3 billion in mortgage financing in 2013, Eastern Union Funding is on a path to nearly triple its 2012 volume, itself the highest in the firm's 11-year history, according to the announcement. It is America's second-largest, privately owned commercial mortgage company, on a transaction volume basis. Says Eastern Union president Ira Zlotowitz of the hire, in the announcement, “Our aim is to elevate the spirit of mutual affinity that unites borrowers and lenders in the presence of a good deal.”
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
