Canada CRE Lending

Hey! I'm a new grad trying to break into CRE lending. 

Anyone got any general thoughts (i.e culture, rep, comp, etc) on the following CRE Lending firms in Canada?

  • CMLS Financial
  • First National

Also, I'd really appreciate if you could drop more names of firms and your thoughts. Thanks in advance!

Region
10 Comments
 

1. Big 5/6 Banks (aka Prime Lenders)

2. Alternate Lenders - HomeTrust, Equitable, First National, Laurentian, etc (these are usually more dumb money players imo)

3. Pensions (CPP RAC, Otera; believe others like omers, Hoopp, aimco have their RE teams do both debt & equity)

4. Insurance (Manulife, Sunlife / BGO)

5. Private Lenders (KingSett, Trez, Timbercreek, Peterson, Lanyard, Peakhill, Greystone / TDAM)

 

Canada ICI is a brokerage, they have a small private fund but its very small. CMLS you'll be working for an originator team most likely, so you'll be doing both direct lending deals and brokerage deals. You only get to work on brokerage deals if you're on origination side for analyst. Credit lending underwriter at CMLS only do lending deal underwriting for their $, not outside brokerage opportunities.

CMLS has low salaries - their intellifi arm had a posting for senior analyst 75k max for 2 years of experience ... First National probably slightly higher salary. Good reputation at both shops. Some more lenders: MCAP, ACM Advisors, All the large credit unions. 

There is a public list of all approved lenders for CMHC (insured residential financing):

https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/project-funding-and-mortgage-…

 
Most Helpful

Also just want to add lending experience and underwriting is fantastic experience if you do up to 3 years max. You can really go anywhere after, because you have traditional underwriting experience and training., i.e. you know exactly what documents you need, how to be conservative, when a deal smells funny, and most importantly... when stuff is missing! Like a tenant expiry date missing, or a missing expense such as significant capex

You also get exposed to the closing process of a commercial deal from the legal side. Fantastic experience really.

These smaller details you might overlook on the brokerage side. 

 
  • CMLS Financial - not sure what the culture is like over there now that they've been acquired by nesto. A lot of people bounce between CMLS and First Nat as they're direct competitors
  • First National - A lot of nepo hires. A lot of politics of whether they like you as well in order to get promoted.
  • Commonalities between the two - you will be paid on a lower base but you'll have 2 semi annual bonuses based on your origination team's volumes. Most people stick around the debt side to become an originator in the long run. I've seen very little people move from debt to equity side and maybe it has to do with the work life balance (occasionally)/cut and paste that comes from working on CMHC deals. If you don't stick around, you tend to just jump to another CMHC lender. 
  • Feel free to DM me if you have any other questions regarding CMHC lending or regarding the two shops 
 

Ut quam sed magnam aut deserunt sit alias dolorem. Molestias voluptatem quia est beatae facere ut.

Quaerat magnam adipisci beatae voluptatem labore quia quis. Nam et inventore voluptatibus iure. Molestias saepe recusandae fuga ab sed fugit sit dolorem.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (67) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”