Commercial Banks vs Capital Markets Intermediaries

How are they different? Take HFF for example - on their website, they say they do "Debt Placement," "Loan Sales," and "Loan Servicing." How does this differ from real estate lending at a commerical bank?

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The biggest and easiest difference between the two is that Commercial Banks are direct lenders and lend money from their own balance sheets. HFF is a service provider (broker), the activities you described are the services they offer.

HFF makes money from Fee Income alone. Example 1% fee for a debt placement deal.

Commercial Banks (WF, BofA, JPMC) make money from Fee Income and also from Interest Income (the spread between the cost of funds and they rate they charge their clients).

The companies I mentioned above are all public, take a quick peak at their financials/10k for more insight.

 

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