One of the most successful best practices for improving agency performance is the use of scorecards for assessing and rank ordering performance of agencies in competition with each other. Much like people, agencies thrive when they understand how they are evaluated, how to influence those factors that contribute to success, and the recognition and reward for top tier performance.

Rather than a simple view of performance based upon a recovery rate as a percentage of total inventory, best practice...

- by Alan Ikemura

Up to this point, I’ve been writing about loan originations and the prospects and challenges facing bankcard, auto and real estate lending this year.  While things are off to a good start, I’ll use my next few posts to discuss the other side of the loan equation: performance.

If there’s one thing we learned during the post-recession era is that growth can have consequences if not managed properly.  Obviously real estate is the poster child for this phenomenon, but bankcards...

by Veronica Herrera

Last month, I wrote about seeking ways to ensure growth without increasing risk.  This month, I’ll present a few approaches that use multiple scores to give a more complete view into a consumer’s true profile.

Auditing provides the organization with assurance that all financial controls are in place to ensure that trust account funds are maintained, access to financial records at the vendor location is tightly controlled, customer data is secure, and that the vendor is in full compliance with contractual requirements (i.e., minimum account servicing requirements for issues such as vendor actions following initial placement, ongoing contact efforts, remittance processing, settlement authorizations,...

- by Mike Horrocks

Henry Ford is credited to have said “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”   This is so true with risk management, as you may consider bringing in different business units, policies, etc., into a culture of enterprise risk management.  Institutions that understand the concept of strength from unity are able to minimize risks at all levels, and not be exposed in unfamiliar areas. 

So how can this apply in your organization?...

Some of you may be thinking finally we get to the meat of the matter.  Yes the decision strategies are extremely important when we talk about small business/business banking.  Just remember how we got to here though, we had to first define:

• Who are we going to pursue in this market segment?
• How are we going to pursue this market segment - part 1 &  part 2?
• What are we going to require of the applicants to request the funds?

Without the above, we can create all the decision strategies we want but...

- by Alan Ikemura

In my last two posts on bankcard and auto originations, I provided evidence as to why lenders have reason to feel optimistic about their growth prospects in 2012.  With real estate lending however, the recovery, or lack thereof looks like it may continue to struggle throughout the year.

At first glance, it would appear that the stars have aligned for a real estate turnaround.  Interest rates are at or near all-time lows, housing prices are at post-bubble lows and people are...

Organizations approach agency management from three perspectives:

(1) the need to audit vendors to ensure that they are meeting contractual, financial and legal compliance requirements;

(2) ensure that the organization’s clients are being treated fairly and ethically in order to limit brand reputation risk and maintain a customer-centric commitment;

(3) maximize revenue opportunities through collection of write-offs through successful performance management of the vendor.

Larger organizations manage...

- by Alan Ikemura

If you attended any of our past credit trends Webinars, you’ve heard me mention time and again how auto originations have been a standout during these times when overall consumer lending has been a challenge.   In fact, total originated auto volumes topped $100B in the third quarter of 2011, a level not seen since mid-2008.

But is this growth sustainable?  Since bottoming at the start of 2009, originations have been on a tear for nearly three straight years.  Given that, you...

Part II: Where are Models Most Needed Now in Mortgages?

(Click here if you missed Part I of this post.)

A first important question should always be are all of your models, model uses, and model testing strategies, and your non-model processes, sound and optimal for your business?  But in today’s environment, two areas in mortgage stand out where better models and decision systems are most needed now: mortgage servicing and loan-quality assurance.  I will discuss loan-quality assurance in a future...