Prepared Remarks of MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, at the 2026 MBA Commercial/Multifamily Finance Convention and Expo

SAN DIEGO (February 9, 2026) – MBA President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, CMB, delivered the following remarks today at MBA's 2026 Commercial/Multifamily Finance Convention and Expo.

Good morning!

Thank you all for being here, and on behalf of the entire MBA team, thank you for your partnership.

It’s a privilege to represent the companies that anchor our communities and lift up our country.

Our goal, every year, is to help you contribute even more to our economy.

But this past year was especially important.

The start of a new presidential administration is always a bit hectic. But we’ve never seen anything like we saw in 2025.

That’s where I want to begin this morning - by looking at how much has changed. Most of all, I want to look at how MBA has navigated that change and steered a course to help you succeed.

Think back, if you can, to where things stood when we gathered last February. We were barely two weeks into the new administration. Everyone was talking about DOGE - remember that? No one had any idea what was going to happen or how it would affect your businesses and customers. But at the MBA, we knew what we had to do. So we implemented a comprehensive plan to get results.

One of our biggest strengths is building relationships with people who matter. We’d already been working with the President’s team before Inauguration Day. We’ve only deepened our collaboration since then. That was on full display at our CEO Exchange in Washington last month.

We brought leaders from the commercial, multifamily, and residential sectors to D.C.

to speak directly with top officials. That includes NEC Director Kevin Hassett, FDIC Chairman Travis Hill, FHFA Director Bill Pulte, and FHA Commissioner Frank Cassidy.

Those are only a few of the senior policymakers we spoke with that day. We had serious and solution-focused discussions with all of them. You’ll be pleased to know that they share our vision of a stronger economy, driven by your businesses. I’m confident you’ll hear that alignment from Commissioner Cassidy later this morning.

The CEO Exchange is just the latest example of our influence at the highest levels of our nation’s capital. In the past few months, we’ve had at least a dozen meetings with senior policymakers, from the Comptroller of the Currency to the Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve.

In each meeting, we made your priorities perfectly clear - and we offered to partner with them to promote sound policy. It certainly helps that the Trump administration is hiring people who know the industry and how the economy works. They have expertise because they have experience. We don’t have to explain twice why some proposals are bad and others good. They get it. And they get the indispensable role that you play in the economy. Frankly, the last few months have been a whirlwind.

But the same could be said of the last year as a whole, and I don’t want to lose sight of how we delivered for you from the early days of the administration. The tax reform law is a great example. It seems like it happened an eternity ago. But only seven months have passed since the President signed it. When he did, he gave you the relief and certainty you need to thrive for decades to come. The MBA helped make it happen.

I can’t overstate how big a win the tax law was. This time last year, it was an open question

if a bill would even be able to pass. For that matter, there was little to no sense of what would be in it. Things still weren’t clear by the middle of spring. You may recall that the entire tax code was up for revision - every, single part. 

Things like 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges, business interest deductibility, the deduction for passthroughs, carried interest, and capital gains were all on the table.  Nothing was safe. We had our work cut out for us.

So the MBA swung into action. We went directly to key leaders in the House and Senate.  We’ve known them for years. We explained exactly what you need and how it would help the entire country. Lo and behold, our strategy worked.

The final law was a big win for two reasons. First, we prevented the elimination of critical tax provisions. Look at the 199(a) deduction. Instead of it shrinking, or disappearing altogether, you now have permanent relief.

What about 1031 like-kind exchanges? No change whatsoever.

Ditto the treatment of carried interest and a capital gains differential compared to ordinary income - they both stayed the same.

That’s because our message to Congress was: Do no harm. Clearly, that message got through. But we didn’t just stop harmful tax changes. We also secured new and better policies, which is the second reason the tax law is such a big win.

A good example is the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. The 9% LIHTC allocations have been permanently raised by 12%, while the bond financing threshold has been cut in half. This change will be especially good for underserved parts of the housing market. We also successfully pushed for another round of opportunity zones, so we’ll get even more investment in our communities.

These victories will pay dividends for generations to come. The list of wins in the tax law goes on.

But I want to focus on one part of the story that really shows our influence in action. Shortly before the bill passed, a so-called “revenge tax” was suddenly added. Basically, the U.S. was going to raise taxes on investors from foreign countries that have unfair trade policies. But that would have been a major hit to investment coming from overseas, and sure enough, commercial dealmaking instantly fell because of the threat.

The MBA saw all of this - and we immediately rallied to prevent this outcome. We told the White House and Congress about the damage enactment would cause. They heard us, and within a matter of days, the revenge tax was gone from the House and Senate bills.  We came through when it really mattered.

And when I look back at the tax law overall, I can safely say that we fought hard -

and we won big.

Tax reform is just one of many areas where we’ve made progress on your behalf. At FHA, the multifamily MIP stands out. When FHA said it was ditching the old green reduction, we said hold on - why not reduce costs for everyone? FHA responded by doing exactly that, with a 25 basis-point MIP for multifamily loans. That’s real relief for multifamily lenders, tenants, and borrowers.

This administration has also been listening to common sense on everything from the radon rule to tenant protections at the GSEs to 1071 small business loan reporting that would have affected lenders across capital sources. The difference with the last administration is night and day, and across the board, we’ve seen a profound shift in the government’s attitude toward regulation and enforcement. Agencies are no longer fixated on process. They’re no longer making mountains out of molehills. Instead, they’re focused on the big picture, which is making sure that business gets done right. Ultimately, they want to work with you to strengthen America. This attitude is truly a breath of fresh air.

It’s especially heartening to hear senior officials talk about getting banks back into the lending market. They recognize that heavy-handed regulations have created roadblocks. They want to break down those barriers, so you can do what you do best. And here at the MBA, we will keep doing what do we do best.

We’ll shine a light on the rules and mandates that need to be revisited. We’ll offer practical solutions to the problems you face. A case in point is Basel III and bank capital requirements. We’ve already been working with the White House and the regulators - including OCC Comptroller Gould, FDIC Chairman Hill, Fed Vice Chair Bowman, and others -- to get this regulatory framework right.

For instance, we’re encouraging them to better tailor capital requirements to risks - and give capital relief to safer loans. We’re also urging them to completely ditch harmful ideas, like a proposal to impose cross-default in capital rules. That idea is completely unworkable. It will only push banks out of the commercial market, so it needs to go - end of story.

Thankfully, policymakers are very receptive to what we’re saying. The new Basel III proposal should come out in March. I expect it will reflect our input. Even so, we’ll keep looking at every detail to ensure that it truly works for you. Basel III is too important to get wrong.  The MBA will do everything in our power to get it right.

We’re also focused on insurance costs. We know they’re weighing on you and your borrowers. We know the ups and downs of the past few years have been tough to deal with. We’re working with you and your teams to help navigate these challenges - and we’re already taking steps to reauthorize the federal backstop for terrorism risk insurance coverage. Congress is moving a bipartisan proposal that extends the program through 2035. It passed overwhelmingly in committee and will likely reach the House floor in the coming months.

As the debate continues, you can be confident that we have a seat at the table, and we are using it to make sure your voice is heard and your needs are met. That’s what we did throughout 2025 - and that’s what we’ll do all of this year, too. We can all be proud of what we achieved together, and as we prepare for the hard work ahead, I want to personally thank you for being part of the MBA family. We couldn’t do this without you. And America as a whole wouldn’t be the same without you. You contribute so much to our nation’s growth and success. Together, we’ll continue to chart a new era of opportunity.

With that, I’ll turn things over to our next speaker, Christine Chandler. You all know her, and we’re fortunate to have her as our chair at a time like this. She knows how to tell your story to our nation’s leaders, and when there’s a make-or-break meeting in D.C., she shows up in person because she lives next door in Maryland. Christine has played a big part in our victories over the past few months. But even better, she has an inspiring vision for our shared future.

Please join me in welcoming MBA’s chair and a CREF favorite - Christine Chandler!