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A Publication of The Warren Group TRACKING THE ROI
Study: Mobile Banking Is Worth The Investment
Study Finds ROI In Mobile Banking Adoption BY LAURA ALIX BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
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ankers have been hearing for years now that they need to invest in mobile banking, but how do they know when it’s working? Moreover, when will an abundance of apps supplant the importance of the traditional brick-and-mortar branch? A new white paper from fintech giant Fiserv seeks to answer at least that first question. To put together the findings – titled “Mobile Banking Adoption: Where Is The Revenue For Financial Institutions?” – Fiserv spent 12 months in 2014 and 2015 studying consumers across eight credit unions and nine banks of varying sizes. They looked at metrics like product usage and transaction frequency, and they studied consumers for three months before and after mobile banking adoption. “Mobile banking is table stakes, and I think all financial institutions do realize that. The main reason we wanted to do this Continued on Page 9
CLAMPING DOWN ON CASH TRANSACTIONS
Feds Seek Money Launderers Treasury Department To Require Title Insurance Companies To ID Cash Buyers
SEARCH FOR SPACE BY STEVE ADAMS BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
T
ech and life science companies have been crucial drivers of growth in the Boston and Cambridge office and lab markets in recent years. Now the sectors are starting to leave a mark in the suburbs, but their impact is being felt primarily in Greater Boston’s 160-million-square-foot industrial real estate market. Projects sponsored by Amazon and a Cambridge pharmaceutical company are creating growth opportunities for industrial developers, with plans for big manufacturing, warehouses and distribution plants taking shape. “It’s a market that’s very healthy and it’s in a position where developers want to be able to deliver that building as soon as someone says ‘go,’” said Robert Gibson Jr., a partner at CBRE. Greater Boston industrial market fundamentals have steadily improved in recent quarters, according to Transwestern RBJ’s indSTATus research report. Warehouse vacancies hit an alltime low of 11 percent in the fourth quarter, while asking rents for manufacturing space have increased 13 percent in the last 12 months.
TECH INDUSTRY
DISRUPTS INDUSTRIAL MARKET
Demand For Industrial Space Drives Development
Worcester Project Reawakens Factory Parcel
Developer Steven Goodman has over 100,000 square feet of speculative space available as part of the 650,000-squarefoot warehouse he’s building in Worcester for anchor tenant Imperial Distributors. GFI Partners, Goodman’s Boston-based development company, acquired the 36-acre parcel at Continued on Page 9
BY JIM MORRISON BANKER & TRADESMAN STAFF
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tarting March 1, the U.S. Department of Treasury will require title insurance companies to identify the actual people behind the cash purchases of highend properties in Manhattan and Miami. The pilot program runs through Aug. 27, 2016, and is intended to combat money laundering by foreign criminals, many of whom use hot U.S. real estate markets as “safe deposit boxes” for their plunder. “Over the years, our rules have evolved to make the standard mortgage market more transparent and less hospitable to fraud and money laundering,” Treasury Dept. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) director Jennifer Shasky Calvery said in a statement. “But cash purContinued on Page 7
Greater Boston Industrial Real Estate Rebounds In Q4 • Warehouse vacancies hit all-time low of 11 percent • Flex space vacancies fell to 13.9 percent, lowest since 2001 • Manufacturing plants experienced 5.6 percent rental increase to $8.09 per square foot • Asking rents for manufacturing plants increased 13 percent since December 2014 Source: Transwestern RBJ indSTATUS report
CONTENTS
Residential �������������������������������������������������������������� 7
Commercial & Industrial ������������������������������������������ 9
Points ����������������������������������������������������������������������� 4
In Person ������������������������������������������������������������������ 8
Classified Sections ������������������������������������������������� 10
By The Numbers ������������������������������������������������������� 6
Banking & Lending �������������������������������������������������� 9
Records Section ������������������������������������������������������ B1