Summer Intern - Supervision & Regulation - Commercial Real Estate Lending

What You Will Do

Intern Projects

The intern will assist on a project relating to commercial real estate lending with community and regional banks as community banks typically have large holdings of debt on local commercial real estate. COVID and Work-From-Home policies shifted demand for commercial real estate, and the intent of this project is to better understand how these shifts impacted smaller banks. The ultimate deliverable for this internship will be a research brief on distress in commercial real estate and distress effects regional and community banks. We will use internal and vendor leasing data to identify where demand has shifted. The intern’s work will be preparing and cleaning the data as well as creating supporting analysis for the research brief.  

Project timeline: 

• Phase 1 (Weeks 1-2): The intern will learn the specific datasets we will use and begin with cleaning and merging necessary data. Much of the cleaning and merging has been completed, so this will be a short phase where the intern’s contribution will mainly be to improve any match or cleaning. 

• Phase 2 (Weeks 3-5): The intern will work with the project manager to perform statistical and econometric analyses measuring demand shifts in commercial real estate and the related effect on local banks. 

• Phase 3 (Week 6): The intern will work with the project manager to assess findings from Phase 2 and prepare supporting tables and figures for a research brief on regional house price changes. 

• Phase 4 (Weeks 7-9): The intern will work with the project manager to write a research brief on commercial real estate distress. The goal will be to make this brief externally facing. 

• Phase 5 (Week 10): The intern will prepare a presentation on their findings and present this to the FRB as the capstone to this internship. 

What You Have

• A master’s or PhD student pursuing a degree related to real estate, finance, and/or mortgage lending. Other fields related to real estate or banking are also encouraged to apply 

Required Skills: 

• Experience in SAS and Stata. Primary coding languages are Python and Stata, but intern will be given the opportunity to learn Python while working on this project 

Preferred Competencies: 

• Verbal and written communication skills 

• Problem solving skills 

• Attention to detail is needed to make sure that the data work has been performed correctly 

• Organizational skills to annotate and document their work such that others can pick up where the project left off 

• Ability to work well independently with little supervision, the project manager will be available to assist  

• Strong presentation and communication skills to share what they have completed concisely and effectively  

Additional Information:

• The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia takes your information privacy seriously. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia staff will only email you from the “@phil.frb.org” domain or through the Workday system “rb@myworkday.com”.  If you are initially contacted by phone, feel free to request that the caller provide you with their email address to validate their identity.  If you have any questions about the validity of someone who contacts you regarding this position, please email the Talent Acquisition team at TalentAcquisition@phil.frb.org.
• We are an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring the best candidates and to providing equal employment opportunity to all persons without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, military service, or any other basis protected by law.
• We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job responsibilities, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, please email us at TalentAcquisition@phil.frb.org.
• All Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia employees must comply with the Bank's ethics rules, which generally prohibit employees, their spouses/domestic partners, and minor children from owning securities, such as stock, of banks or savings associations or their affiliates, such as bank holding companies and savings and loan holding companies. If you or your spouse/domestic partner or minor child own such securities and would not be willing or able to divest them if you accepted an offer of Bank employment, you should raise this issue with the Recruiter for this posting, who can provide you contact information for our ethics officer if necessary. You should review the Bank's Employee Code of Conduct to ensure compliance with conflict of interest rules and personal investment restrictions.
• Background investigations and drug testing are required for all new hires as a condition of employment, after the job offer is made. Candidates for positions deemed as "safety sensitive" will also be screened for the presence of marijuana. Employment may not begin until the Bank accepts the results of the background investigation.
• All employees will be subject to FBI fingerprint / criminal background and Patriot Act/ Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) watch list checks at least once every five years.
• Certain eligibility rules apply. You will provide work authorization to prove your eligibility to work in the United States.
• The above statements are intended to describe the general nature, level of work and the requirements of this position. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities associated with this position or the personnel so classified. While this job description is intended to be an accurate reflection of this position, management reserves the right to revise this or any job description at its discretion at any time.
• This is NOT a 100% remote opportunity. You will be available to work on-site in at least a hybrid capacity.
• Learn more about the Philly Fed and its culture. Learn more about working for the Philly Fed.