Wells Fargo tops the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) ranking of commercial mortgage servicers as of the end of December 2010 with $451.1 billion in U.S. master and primary servicing.

The announcement was made at MBA's Commercial Real Estate Finance/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo 2011 under way in San Diego.

PNC Real Estate/Midland Loan Services ranks second with $337.4 billion, followed by Berkadia Commercial Mortgage with $194.9 billion, Bank of America Merrill Lynch with $126.6 billion, and KeyBank Real Estate Capital with $118.9 billion.

Wells Fargo, PNC/Midland, Berkadia, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and KeyBank are the largest master and primary servicers of commercial/multifamily loans in U.S. CMBS, CDO and other asset-backed securities, according to MBA.

A primary servicer is generally responsible for collecting loan payments from borrowers, performing property inspections and other property-related activities. A master servicer is typically responsible for collecting cash and data from primary servicers and then providing that cash and data, through trustees, to investors.

Here are additional rankings from the new report:

· PNC/Midland, GEMSA Loan Services, Prudential Asset Resources, Northwestern Mutual, and NorthMarq Capital are the largest servicers for life companies.

· PNC/Midland, Wells Fargo, Berkadia, Deutsche Bank Commercial Real Estate and Prudential Asset Resources are the largest Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac servicers.

· PNC/Midland ranks as the top master and primary servicer of commercial bank and savings institution loans.

· GEMSA is the top credit company, pension funds, REITs, and investment funds servicer.

· PNC/Midland is the top FHA and Ginnie Mae servicer.

· Wells Fargo heads the list for mortgages in warehouse facilities.

· Berkadia is the largest for other investor-type loans.

· The leading special servicers cited were LNR Partners, CWCapital LLC & CWCapital Asset Management, C-III Asset Management LLC, PNC/Midland, and Berkadia.

MBA tabulations do not double-count loans for which a single servicer performs multiple roles, in general.

Beyond the United States, Hatfield Philips International, an LNR Property Company, ranks as the largest master and primary servicer of non-U.S. commercial/multifamily mortgages, followed by Deutsche Bank, PNC/Midland, GEMSA, and Manulife Financial/John Hancock.

.