Much of the discussion on Capitol Hill revolves around sufficient risk-based capital and the derivation of how much tier 1 capital and/or common equity capital is appropriate. Most of our solution offerings and consulting services address various aspects of risk management, from targeting prospective customers, through loan origination and risk-based pricing, to ongoing relationship management and portfolio monitoring. We have been addressing risk management with our clients long before the recent financial and economic crises. We are both ready and able to assist new and existing clients in many ways: to effectively and efficiently address the management of credit and other risks and to develop strategies that offer optimal risk-based profit performance. We are always monitoring regulatory developments and, as always, will strive to assist our clients with new best practices to operate as effectively as possible under any new regulations affecting risk management policies, processes and governance responsibilities.

 


Some articles that I’ve come across recently have puzzled me.

In those articles, authors use the terms “monetary base” and “money supply” synonymously -- but those terms are actually very different.

The monetary base (currency plus Fed deposits) is a much smaller number than the money supply (M1). The huge change in the “base”, which the Fed did affect by adding $1T or so to infuse a lot of quick liquidity into the financial system late in 2007/early 2008, does not necessarily impact M1 (which includes the base plus all bank demand deposits) all that much in the short-term, and may impact it even less in the intermediate-term if the Fed reduces its holdings of securities.  Some are correct, of course, in positing that a rotation out of securities by the Fed will tend to put pressure on market rates.

Some are equivocating the 2007 liquidity moves of the Fed, with a major monetary policy change. When the capital markets froze due to liquidity and credit risks in August/September of 2007, monetary policy was not the immediate risk, or even a consideration. Without the liquidity injections in that timeframe, monetary policy would have become less than an academic consideration.

Tying the “constrained” (which actually was a slowdown in growth of) bank lending to bank reserves on account at the Fed I don’t think their Fed reserve balance was ever an issue for lending. Banks slowed down lending because the level of credit risk increased. Borrowers were defaulting. Bank deposit balances were actually increasing through the financial crisis. [See my Feb 26 and March 5 blogs] So, loan funding, at least from deposit sources was not the problem for most banks. Of course, for a small number of banks that had major securities losses, capital was being lost and therefore not available to back increased lending. But demand deposit balances were growing.

Some authors are linking bank reserves to the ability of banks to raise liabilities, which makes little sense. Banks’ respective abilities to gather demand deposits (insured by the FDIC, at no small expense to the banks) was always wide open, and their ability to borrow funds is much more a function of asset quality (or net asset value) more than it relates their relatively small reserve balances at the Fed.

These actions may result in high inflation levels and high interest rates -- but it will be because of poor Fed decisions in the future, not because of the Fed’s action of last year. It will also depend on whether the fiscal (deficit) actions of the government are: 1) economically productive and 2) tempered to a recovery, or not. I think that is a bigger macro-economic risk than Fed monetary policy.

In fact, the only way bank executives can wisely manage the entity over an extended timeframe is to be able to direct resources across all possibilities on a risk-adjusted basis. The question isn’t whether risk-based pricing is appropriate for all lines of business, but rather how might or should it be applied.

For commercial lending into the middle and corporate markets, there is enough money at stake to warrant evaluating each loan and deposit, as well as the status of the client relationship, on an individual basis. This means some form of simulation modeling by relationship managers on new sales opportunities (including renewals) and the model’s ready access to current data on all existing pieces of business with each relationship. [See my April 24 blog entry.]

This process also implies the ability to easily aggregate the risk-return status of a group of related clients and to show lenders how their portfolio of accounts is performing on a risk-adjusted basis. This type of model-based analysis needs to be flexible enough to handle differing loan structures, easy for a lender to use and quick. The better models can perform such analysis in minutes. I’ve discussed the elements of such models in earlier posts.

But, with small business and consumer lending there are other considerations that come into play. The principles of risk-based pricing are consistent across any loan or deposit. With small business lending, the process of selling, negotiating, underwriting and origination is significantly more streamlined and under some form of workflow control.

With consumer lending, there are more regulations to take into account and there are mass marketing considerations driving the “sales” process.

Agreement covers what the new owner wants now and may decide it wants in the future. This a form of strategic business risk that comes with accepting the capital infusion from this particular source.
 




-- By Wendy Greenawalt

Today, most lenders evaluate tri-bureau credit data when making lending decisions. Credit attributes are the building blocks for creating models, scorecards, segmentation and policy rules. Why is creating tri-bureau attributes so difficult? The main challenges are assessing the bureau data that is available, deriving meaningful information from that data and then equalizing or minimizing the differences inherent to the data available from the credit bureaus.

While this process may seem straight forward, defining an industry designation or a series of attributes within that industry can take months of analysis and careful consideration of trade-offs. Missing even one data element can have a major impact to lending decisions and the portfolio mix of an organization.

For example, let’s look at a very basic attribute like total number of trades. When creating this attribute, an organization has to decide what constitutes a trade. For instance, is a collection account a trade that should be included in the count? Again, this may seem trivial, but could have a significant impact to the risk associated with a consumer when combined with other credit data.

Whether credit attributes are created and managed internally or purchased from an attribute provider, the process of defining and leveling credit bureau data across bureaus requires significant time and resources. Therefore, ensuring the attributes used are statistically accurate and predictive is vital to the long-term success of an organization.
 


-- By Kelly Kent

In recent months, the topics of stress-testing and loss forecasting have been at the forefront of the international media and, more importantly, at the forefront of the minds of American banking executives. The increased involvement of the federal government in managing the balance sheets of the country’s largest banks has mixed implications for financial institutions in this country.

On one hand, some banks have been in the practice of building macroeconomic scenarios for years and have tried and tested methods for risk management and loss forecasting. On the other hand, in financial institutions where these practices were conducted in a less methodical manner, if at all, the scrutiny placed on capital adequacy forecasting has left many looking to quickly implement standards that will address regulatory concerns when their number is called.

For those clients to whom this process is new, or for those who do not possess a methodology that would withstand the examination of federal inspectors, the question seems to be – where do we begin?

I think that before you can understand where you’re going, you must first understand where you are and where you have been. In this case, it means having a detailed understanding of key industry and peer benchmarks and your relative position to those benchmarks. 

Even simple benchmarking exercises provide answers to some very important questions.

• What is my risk profile versus that of the industry?
• How does the composition of my portfolio differ from that of my peers?
• How do my delinquencies compare to those of my peers? How has this position been changing?

By having a thorough understanding of one’s position in these challenging circumstances, it allows for a more educated foundation upon which to build assessments of the future.
 



-- by Kari Michel

Are you using scores to make new applicant decisions? Scoring models need to be monitored regularly to ensure a sound and successful lending program. Would you buy a car and run it for years without maintenance -- and expect it to run at peak performance? Of course not. Just like oil changes or tune-ups, there are several critical components that need to be addressed regarding your scoring models on a regular basis.

Monitoring reports are essential for organizations to answer the following questions:

• Are we in compliance?
• How is our portfolio performing?
• Are we making the most effective use of your scores?

To understand how to improve your portfolio performance, you must have good monitoring reports. Typically, reports fall into one of three categories: (1) population stability, (2) decision management, (3) scorecard performance. Having the right information will allow you to monitor and validate your underwriting strategies and make any adjustments when necessary. Additionally, that information will let you know that your scorecards are still performing as expected.

In my next blog, I will discuss the population stability report in more detail.

So, what is portfolio management? 

Portfolio risk management is the active and effective oversight of the current client base with the intent of:
  • Maximizing client retention
  • Maximizing cross-sell opportunities
  • Minimizing loss potential due to credit-risk issues
  • Minimizing loss potential due to operational risks
  • Maximizing profitability through the timely identification o f risk and the appropriate allocation of capital

In addition to behavioral models, collections and account management groups need the ability to implement collections workflow strategies in order to effectively handle and process accounts, particularly when the optimization of resources is a priority. While the behavioral models will effectively evaluate and measure the likelihood that an account will become delinquent or result in a loss, strategies are the specific actions taken, based on the score prediction, as well as other key information that is available when those actions are appropriate.

Identifying high-risk accounts, for example, may result in strategies designed to accelerate collections management activity and execute more aggressive actions. On the other hand, identifying low-risk accounts can help determine when to take advantage of cost-saving actions and focus on customer retention programs.  Effective strategies also address how to handle accounts that fall between the high- and low-risk extremes, as well as accounts that fall into special categories such as first payment defaults, recently delinquent accounts and unique customer or product segments.

To accommodate lenders with systems that cannot support either behavioral scorecards or strategies, Experian developed the powerful service bureau solution, Portfolio Management Package, which is also referred to as PMP. To use this service, lenders send Experian customer master file data on a daily basis. Experian processes the data through the Portfolio Management Package system which includes calculating Fast Start behavior scores and identifying special handling accounts and electronically delivers the recommended strategies and actions codes within hours. Scoring and strategy parameters can be easily changed, as well as portfolio segmentation, special handling options and scorecard selections.

PMP also supports Champion Challenger testing to enable users to learn which strategies are most effective. Comprehensive reports suites provide the critical information needed for lenders to design strategies and evaluate and compare the performance of those strategies.
 


Below are a few risk management strategies that your financial institution can implement through the utilization of automated portfolio monitoring:

Special accounts strategies
Focus your internal resources on accounts with a high probability of recovery. Minimize "distractions" of resources and determine the probability of rehabilitation. By utilizing these strategies, your financial institution may be able to handle more accounts with same staff levels and have quicker and more accurate responses.

Focus your internal resources
Focus your risk management resources on the accounts that are showing signs of deterioration, those that have fallen below minimum thresholds and show a significant decline from prior year performance. By doing this you can avoid credit review by identifying continuing high performers and negligible declines in credit quality.
 


Here are just a few of the first steps you can take to improve your financial institution's profitability through automated loan portfolio monitoring:
  • Take a look at how your perception of small business loans has kept you from preventing problem situations.
     
  • Consider migrating to a more proactive approach in your loan renewal/review process; it can have an impact on your profitability.
     
  • Consider freeing up more time for your lenders and relationship managers and investigate what could be done with that time to better benefit your financial institution.

Currently, financial institutions focus on the existing customer base and prioritize collections to recover more cash, and do it faster. There is also a need to invest in strategic projects with limited budgets in order to generate benefits in a very short term, to rationalize existing strategies and processes while ensuring that optimal decisions are made at each client contact point.
To meet the present challenging conditions, financial institutions increasingly are performing business reviews with the goal of evaluating needs and opportunities to maximize the value created in their portfolios.  Business reviews assess an organization’s capacity to leverage on existing opportunities as well as identifying any additional capability that might be necessary to realize the increased benefits.

An effective business review covers the following four phases:

  • Problem definition: Establish and qualify what the key objectives of the organization are, the most relevant issues to address, the constraints of the solution, the criteria for success and to summarize how value management fits into the company’s corporate and business unit strategies.
  • Benchmark against leading practice: Strategies, processes, tools, knowledge, and people have to be measured using a review toolset tailored to the organization’s strategic objectives.
  • Define the opportunities and create the roadmap: The elements required to implement the opportunities and migrating to the best practice should be scheduled in a phased strategic roadmap that includes the implementation plan of the proposed actions.
  • Achieve the benefits: An ROI-focused approach, founded on experience in peer organizations, will allow analysis of the cost-benefits of the recommended investments and quantify the potential savings and additional revenue generated. A continuous fine-tuning (i.e. impact of market changes, looking for the next competitive edge and proactively challenge solution boundaries) will ensure the benefits are fully achieved.

Today’s blog is an extract of an article written by Burak Kilicoglu, an Experian Global Consultant

To read the entire article in the April edition of Experian Decision Analytics’ global newsletter e-news, please follow the link below:

http://www.experian-da.com/news/enews_0903/Story2.html
 


As I'm preparing for traveling to the Baker Hill Solution Summit next week, I thought I would revisit the ideas of risk-based loan pricing.

Risk Adjusted Loan Pricing – The Major Parts 

I have referred to risk-adjusted commercial loan pricing (or the lack of it) in previous posts. At times, I’ve commented on aspects of risk-based pricing and risk-based bank performance measurement,  but I haven’t discussed what risk-based pricing is -- in a comprehensive manner. Perhaps, I can begin to do that now, and in my next posts.

 

Risk-based pricing analysis is a product-level microcosm of risk-based bank performance. You begin by looking at the financial implications of a product sale from a cost accounting perspective. This means calculating the revenues associated with a loan, including the interest income and any fee-based income. These revenues need to be spread over the life of the loan, while taking into account the amortization characteristics of the balance (or average usage for a line of credit). To save effort (and in providing good client relationship management), we often download the balance and rate information for existing loans from a bank’s loan accounting system.

 

To “risk-adjust” the interest income, you need to apply a cost of funds that has the same implied market risk characteristics as the loan balance. This is not like the bank’s actual cost of funds for several reasons. Most importantly, there is usually no automatic risk-based matching between the manner in which the bank makes loans and the term characteristics of its deposits and/or borrowing. Once we establish a cost of funds approach that removes interest rate risk from the loan, we subtract the risk-adjusted interest expense from the revenues to arrive at risk-adjusted net interest income, or our risk-adjusted gross margin.

 

We then subtract two types of costs. One cost includes the administrative or overhead expenses associated with the product. Our best practice is to derive an approach to operating expense breakdowns that takes into account all of the bank’s non-interest expenses. This is a “full absorption” method of cost accounting. We want to know the marginal cost of doing business, but if we just apply the marginal cost to all loans, a large portion of real-life expenses won’t be covered by resulting pricing. As a result, the bank’s profits may suffer.

 

We fully understand the argument for marginal cost coverage, but have seen the unfortunate end-result of too many sales -- that use this lower cost factor -- hurt a bank’s bottom line. Administrative cost does not normally require additional risk adjustment, as any risk-based operational expenses and costs of mitigating operation risk are already included in the bank’s general ledger for non-interest expenses.

 

The second expense subtracted from net interest income is credit risk cost. This is not the same as the bank’s provision expense, and is certainly not the same as the loss provision in any one accounting period.  The credit risk cost for pricing purposes should be risk adjusted based on both product type (usually loan collateral category) and the bank’s risk rating for the loan in question. This metric will calculate the relative probability of default for the borrower combined with the loss given default for the loan type in question.

 

We usually annualize the expected loss numbers by taking into account a multi-year history and a one- or two-year projection of net loan losses. These losses are broken down by loan type and risk rating based on the bank’s actual distribution of loan balances.

 

The risk costs by risk rating are then created using an up-sloping curve that is similar in shape to an industry default experience curve. This assures a realistic differentiation of losses by risk rating. Many banks have loss curves that are too flat in nature, resulting in little or no price differentiation based on credit quality. This leads to poor risk-based performance metrics and, ultimately, to poor overall financial performance. The loss expense curves are fine-tuned so that over a period of years the total credit risk costs, when applied to the entire portfolio, should cover the average annual expected loss experience of the bank.

 

By subtracting the operating expenses and credit risk loss from risk-adjusted net interest income, we arrive at risk-adjusted pre-tax income. In my next post we’ll expand this discussion further to risk-adjusted net income, capital allocation for unexpected loss and profit ratio considerations.




 

1.       Portfolio Management – You should really focus on this topic in 2009.  With many institutions already streamlining the origination process, portfolio management is the logical next step.  While the foundation is based in credit quality, portfolio management is not just for the credit side. 

2.       Review of Data (aka “Getting Behind the Numbers”) – We are not talking about scorecard validation; that’s another subject.  This is more general.  Traditional commercial lending rarely maintains a sophisticated database on its clients.  Even when it does, traditional commercial lending rarely analyzes the data. 

3.       Lowering Costs of Origination – Always a shoe-in for a goal in any year!  But how does an institution make meaningful and marked improvements in reducing its costs of origination? 

4.       Scorecard Validation – Getting more specific with the review of data.  Discuss the basic components of the validation process and what your institution can do to best prepare itself for analyzing the results of a validation.  Whether it be an interim validation or a full-sized one, put together the right steps to ensure your institution derives the maximum benefit from its scorecard.

5.       Turnaround Times (Response to Client) –Rebuild it.  Make the origination process better, stronger and faster.  No; we aren’t talking about bionics here -- nor how you can manipulate the metrics to report a faster turnaround time.  We are talking about what you can do from a loan applicant perspective to improve turnaround time.

6.       Training – Where are all the training programs?  Send in all the training programs!  Worry, because they are not here.  (Replace training programs with clowns and we might have an oldies song.)  Can’t find the right people with the right talent in the marketplace? 

7.       Application Volume/Marketing/Relationship Management – You can design and execute the most efficient origination and portfolio management processes.   But, without addressing client and application volume, what good are they?

8.       Pricing/Yield on Portfolio – “We compete on service, not price.” We’ve heard this over and over again.  In reality, the sales side always resorts to price as the final differentiator.  Utilizing standardization and consistency can streamline your process and drive improved yields on your portfolio.

9.       Management Metrics – How do I know that I am going in the right direction?  Strategize, implement, execute, measure and repeat.  Learn how to set your targets to provide meaningful bottom line results.

10.    Operational Risk Management – Different from credit risk, operational risk and its management, operational risk management deals with what an institution should do to make sure it is not open to operational risk in the portfolio. Items totally in the control of the institution, if not executed properly, can cause significant loss.


What do you think? As the end of April approaches, are these still hot topics in your financial institution?


As the economic world continues to change, collection strategy testing becomes increasingly important. Champion/Challenger strategy testing is performed using a sample segment and the results provide a learning tool for determining which collections strategies are most effective. This allows strategies to be tested before rolling them out across the entire portfolio. The purpose of this experimental element to collections strategy management is to observe the effectiveness of new strategies, support continuous improvement of collection approaches and facilitate adaptability to changes in consumer behavior.

The methodology behind testing is simple. First, the current environment should be assessed to identify specific areas for potential improvement. Then, a test plan is designed. The test plan should, at a minimum, include well-defined objectives and goals, proposed strategy design, determination of sample size, operational considerations, execution approach, success criteria, and evaluation timetable. After the framework for the test plan has been outlined, running “what if” scenarios will improve refinement of the collections strategy.

In the next phase, implementation occurs following the directives of the test plan. Evaluating strategies commences after implementation and continues throughout the duration of the test. This includes analyzing metrics established during the test plan phase to identify trends and changes as a result of the new challenger strategy. The challenger strategy is declared the new champion if the test achieves or exceeds expectations.

However, before proceeding with the new champion strategy over the entire portfolio, carefully consider any operational constraints that might hinder the success of the strategy on a grand scale. Once these operational constraints have been identified and their impact assessed, the new champion strategy should be executed.


We have talked about: the creation of the vision for our loan portfolios (current state versus future state) – e.g. the strategy for moving our current portfolio to the future vision. Now comes the time for execution of that strategy.

In changing portfolio composition and improving credit quality, the discipline of credit must be strong (this includes in the arenas of commercial loan origination, loan portfolio monitoring, and credit risk modeling of course). Consistency, especially, in the application of policy is key. Early on in the change/execution process there will be strong pressure to revert back to the old ways and stay in a familiar comfort zone.  Credit criteria/underwriting guidelines will have indeed changed in the strategy execution.

In the coming blogs we will be discussing:

  • assessment of the current state in your loan portfolio;
  • development of the specific strategy to effect change in the portfolio from a credit quality perspective and composition;
  • business development efforts to affect change in the portfolio composition; and 
  • policy changes to support the strategy/vision.

 


This post is a feature from my colleague and guest blogger, Barry Timm, Senior Process Architect in Advisory Services at Baker Hill, a part of Experian.

2008 has proven to be an unbelievably challenging year for the economy as a whole, let alone the financial industry.  Never before have we experienced the type and degree of turmoil that we did in 2008, even since the “Great Depression”.
 

These economic challenges have been quick, severe and widespread; and, from large corporations to the individual consumer, all have been impacted to some degree.  The stock market is down, unemployment up, consumer confidence down, delinquencies up ….not exactly a pleasant roller coaster ride. 
 

And, there is no longer any projecting as to when the “bubble” is going to burst.  It happened.   Decreased real estate values have occurred not only in high impact geographic regions but throughout the country.  While home equity products have traditionally been the “golden child” of consumer loan product offerings, recent economic changes have caused a shift in that perspective.  As a result, tightened underwriting standards have limited the availability of the product as a whole.  In some markets the product offering has even been temporarily halted.
 

We frequently hear the terminology “bailout” being used in the news.  While we all have expectations as it relates to the bailout approach, I thought I would “Google” the word “bailout” to see what would magically appear.  Interestingly enough, the first listing was titled “Walk away from your home”, with a link to the home page for a mortgage default legal team.  This is not exactly what I was expecting to find, but is definitely reflective of the times.
 

And, according to the FDIC, there have been 25 failed financial instituions in the year 2008.  This single year number equates to the total number of failed financial institutions between the prior periods 2001 through 2007. 


Okay … enough doom and gloom.  In spite of all that has occurred within the economy, some financial institutions continue to maintain a strong credit quality position in their consumer portfolios and have maintained profitability throughout all of the market volatility.  

What are the strong survivors doing that differentiates themselves from the others?


1. They understand their portfolio.  

Advisory Services frequently assists clients with various types of portfolio management analysis and often presents those findings to senior management.  We often hear that management is surprised by the results of that analysis. The point is that high-level management reporting is not enough these days. Additional detail and depth are necessary. 


More specifically, as opposed to evaluating payment performance at the portfolio level, it is important to consider the following:

  • Do you know your delinquency numbers at the product level? 
  • How do delinquencies compare to your product approval rates? 
  • Do you routinely compare approval/decline rates and delinquencies to scorecard results and/or credit bureau scores?  
  • Do you know where pricing exceptions are being made and are you receiving sufficient return for the level of risk?

2. A focused strategy is in place.
It is important to re-emphasize the specific, strategic direction and focus of your defined market.  Now is not the time to be “pushing the envelope” and extending into untested waters.  There is something to be said about focusing on your strengths, staying within your defined footprint and meeting the needs of your core, proven line of business while following sound financial risk management.


3. The underwriting process is under control.
This does not automatically mean that a “tightening” of underwriting standards is necessary.  It does mean, however, that stronger attention to detail is warranted.  It is important that underwriting criteria is reviewed and that you are sure that defined underwriting practices are consistently applied.  As noted in item number one above, this may require digging a little deeper and reviewing current and past decisioned loans (preferably with a critical eye of an independent third party).  Assessing the underwriting process becomes increasing complex and more critical with a decentralized underwriting approach.


Focus on the positive
Now that 2008 is behind us, let’s continue to focus on the positives to come in 2009.  Reflect on the past, but strive to center your attention on ongoing portfolio monitoring, financial risk management assessments and improvements for the future. 

 


Part 1

Ok, it’s me again, your business development guy in financial risk management clothing. In my first blog, I promised that I would start providing specific tactics related to optimizing penetration and retention efforts.
 
So, in “non-consultant” speak, we’re trying to figure out:

  • how we are going to get deeper with existing clients;
  • keep the (good) business we have; and 
  • find new opportunities.

Today, we’ll focus on client penetration strategies. Some of this should be pretty self-explanatory.  If it is, that’s good. If it isn’t, you have a lot of work to do.

First, let’s recognize that not clients are going to be suitable candidates for increasing the existing relationship. Secondly, we can’t focus strictly on those “A” clients in our portfolio (assuming that you’ve implemented even the most rudimentary sales segmentation strategy, which is categorization into three to four tiers based on total relationship). There simply aren’t that many and if you’ve done your job effectively, there shouldn’t be many more “A” clients to add.

Getting deeper requires a defined approach. It doesn’t just happen. Clients will not call you on a regular or on-going basis and tell you that they need more services (well not usually). Rather, the responsibility rests on our shoulders to uncover changes in their operations and to look for signs that indicate growth, changes in direction and/or priority or changes in their day-to-day activities.

Sounds simple right? So, how should you do this?

One approach might be to engage in a “client call/touch routine” that will have you contacting the upper 65 percent of your portfolio on a pre-defined schedule or frequency. The rationale being that continued and consistent interaction with the client base will result in both uncovering possible “new” needs as well ensuring that in the event there is a competitive effort underway, we will have the opportunity to provide our recommendation.  

My next blog will feature two additional tactics to include in your relationship management process.
 


Hello. My name is Prince Varma and I’ve spent the better part of the last 16 years helping financial institutions (FI) successfully improve their in business development, portfolio growth and client relationship management practices.

So, since the focus of this blog is to speak to readers about risk management, many of you are probably wondering what a “sales and business development” guy is doing writing a piece related to mitigating and managing risk?

Great question!

The simple fact is that the traditional or prevailing sentiment or definition related to risk management – mitigating credit risk -- is incomplete. A more accurate and comprehensive approach would be to recognize, acknowledge and address that “risk” cuts across the entire client relationship spectrum of:

  • client penetration/growth;
  • client retention; and
  • client credit risk mitigation.

How do penetration and retention count as “risk factors”?
(this is where the sales guy stuff comes in)

From a penetration perspective, the failure to recognize potential opportunities either within the existing client base or in the operating market, introduces revenue growth risk (meaning we aren’t keeping our eye on the top line). Ultimately it impacts the FI’s ability to add assets (either deposits or loans) and also has a direct affect on efficiency and deposit to loan ratios.

From a retention perspective, the risk is even more obvious. Our most valued clients are the ones that we must continuously engage in a proactive manner. Let’s face it. In even the smallest markets, there are no less than four to six other institutions waiting to jump on your client in the event that you grow complacent. There is a huge difference between selection and satisfaction. And, if we aren’t focused on keeping a client after securing them, our net portfolio growth targets will be impossible to achieve. 

Considering the current market environment, now more than ever, effectively managing these three elements of “risk/exposure to the FI” is crucial to an institutions success both practically and pragmatically. Everyone internally at the bank is focused on the “credit risk mitigation” piece. The conversations that are occurring outside of the bank’s walls however are focused on the “L” word or liquidity and getting credit flowing again.

How many times have we read or more frankly been beaten with this comment from business owners “…there’s no one making loans anymore…” or “…its impossible to get credit…?”

That should be read as … penetration and retention

Striking a balance between effective and appropriate credit risk exposure and deepening or growing the portfolio has been a challenge facing those of us in the front office for as long as I can remember. The “sales revolution” is effectively over. We’ve learned the critical lesson that we need to evolve beyond being strictly a credit officer (you did learn that right??!!). And, you didn’t/shouldn’t become a “banking products generalist” with no analytical depth. Knowing all this, it is important that we return to the guiding principles of effective lending which include:
- evaluating the scope of the opportunity;
- isolating the risk and identifying a reasonable and realistic recovery/mitigation remedy;
- determining what other alternatives the borrower might be considering; and
- being willing to let the “bad deals” walk.

In subsequent blogs, I’ll provide you with specific tactics aimed at optimizing penetration and retention efforts and implementing effective and practical client management strategies.

After all what would you expect from a business development guy…
 


When you begin thinking about financial risk management, you must begin with a vision for your loan portfolio and the similarity of a loan portfolio to that of an investment portfolio.  Now that you have that vision in place, we can focus on the overall strategy to achieve that vision. 

A valuable first step in loan portfolio monitoring is to establish a targeted value by a certain time (say, our targeted retirement age).  Similarly, it’s important that we establish our vision for the loan portfolio regarding overall diversification, return and the management of risk levels.

The next step is to create a strategy to achieve the targeted state.  By focusing on the gaps between our current state and the vision state we have created, we can develop an action plan for achieving the future/vision state.  I am going to introduce some rather unique ideas here. 

Consider which of your portfolio segments are overweight?  One that comes to mind would be the commercial real estate portfolio.  The binge that has taken place over the past five plus years has resulted in an unhealthy concentration of loans in the commercial real estate segment.  In this one area alone, we will face the greatest challenge of right-sizing our portfolio mix and achieving the appropriate risk model per our vision. 

We have to assess our overall credit risk in the portfolios next.  For small business and consumer portfolios, this is relatively easy using the various credit scores that are available to assess the current risk.  For the larger commercial and industrial portfolios and the commercial real estate portfolios, we must employ some more manual processes to assess risk.  Unfortunately, we have to perform appropriate risk assessments (current up-to-date risk assessments) in order to move on to the next stage of this overall process (which is to execute on the strategy).

Once we have the dollar amounts of either growth or divestiture in various portfolio segments, we can employ the risk assessment to determine the appropriate execution of either growth or divestiture.

What is porfolio risk management? It is the active and effective oversight of the current client base with the intent of:

  • Maximizing client retention –LOVE
    • Everyone wants to retain clients and deepen relationships!
  • Maximize cross-sell opportunities –LOVE
    • Again, everyone wants to retain clients and deepen relationships!
  • Minimize loss potential due to credit risk issues –HATE
    • No one wants credit issues to develop!
  • Minimize loss potential due to operational risks –HATE
  • Maximize profitability through timely identification of risk and appropriate allocation of capital –LOVE / HATE
So, here are a few questions for you to focus your targeted portfolio management efforts.

  • Which clients are likely to need additional products and services?
  • Which clients have a high potential of leaving your financial institution?
  • When do you shift from client retention to credit risk management?

     


Just as with diet recommendations, moderation needs to be the new motto for credit risk management.  Diets provide for the occasional bag of chips or dessert after dinner, but these same food items become problems if the small quantity or occasional indulgence suddenly becomes the norm. 
Similarly, we, in our risk management efforts, put forth guidelines that establish limitations on certain loan types or categories that have been deemed risky should the numbers or quantity become too large a part of the overall portfolio.  Unfortunately, we have a tendency to allow earnings or portfolio growth to cloud our judgment and take an attitude of “just one more.” 
In the past several years, we have experienced excesses in commercial real estate, residential development and subprime mortgages.  It is now these excesses that are creating the problems that we are dealing with today. 
Bringing back these limitations – in other words, reestablishing the discipline in our portfolio risk management – will go a long way in avoiding these same problems in the future. 
As I learned early in my banking career:  “…soundness, profitability and growth…in that order.”