Extracting Value from CECL 2
To meet the new for current expected credit losses (CECL) requirements, “you will need a lot of data,” said Thomas Caragher, Senior Product Manager of Financial & Risk Management Solutions at Fiserv, a US provider of financial services technology. Seven to ten years of data is not unreasonable. The payoff to massive data-gathering is that “you will be able to build strategy more effectively if you have information.” But what to do with the reams of data? First, you have to make some sense of it. “Start by correlating the data,” he said. Oil production might be correlated with loan demand […]
Extracting Value from CECL 1
“Turn the pain of compliance into the benefit of strategy,” said Thomas Caragher, Senior Product Manager of Financial & Risk Management Solutions at Fiserv, a US provider of financial services technology. He was speaking about the approaching deadline to implement new guidelines for current expected credit losses (CECL) at a webinar sponsored by the Global Association of Risk Professionals on April 11, 2018. CECL is the new impairment standard for credit impairment under the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Since it affects accounting, the effect of CECL will be felt “in department stores, cell phone companies, municipalities”—throughout the U.S. The purpose of business intelligence is […]
Behavioral Analytics 2
Industry leaders in the field of behavioral analysis (Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon – FAMGA, as some call them) are “decision architects,” said Joe Mattey, Vice President of Enterprise Risk Analytics, and Chief Risk Officer at USAA. Typically a FAMGA product designer will put together a solution, such as a screen dialog, and fine-tune it over the course of many randomized, controlled trials, to see if the proposed solution gets the desired result—or whether some components need to be changed. In this way, behavioral analysis is looking not just at a decision outcome, it is looking at how that […]
As Fast as You Can
The implementation window for the new Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) standard may seem plenty big enough, but there are loads of decisions to be made, such as “how will we calculate this?” “Decide on methodology and start implementing as fast as you can,” advised Masha Muzyka, Senior Director, Regulatory and Accounting Solutions at Moody’s Analytics. She was part of a round-table discussion, held on January 10, 2018, about the transition to CECL. The webcast was organized by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). The new CECL standard will bring significant changes, such as a spike in earnings volatility. […]
Challenges to modelling
Constructing an accurate financial model for the Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) may present problems to some banks. Possibly a bank is collecting data for annualized charge-off rates. However, that would overlook the question: “how would that inform someone as to the loss rate over the lifetime of the portfolio?” asked Michael Gullette, SVP, Tax and Accounting at the American Bankers Association. The question boils down to whether a bank has enough data of the right kind to see trends and relationships. “And if you have the data, what is the quality?” Gullette said. He was part of a round-table discussion […]
Never too early to start
The “reasonable and supportable” clause of the new Current Expected Credit Loss (CECL) standard “is the most hotly debated part” of the regulation, according to Cristian deRitis, Senior Director, Consumer Credit Analytics at Moody’s Analytics. He was part of a round-table discussion about the transition to CECL that was webcast by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) on January 10, 2018. CECL is the new credit impairment standard under Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). “Auditors are grappling with what ‘reasonable and supportable’ means, too,” he added. For best practice in terms of modelling credit risk, the phrase boils down to whether […]
It’s all about the benchmark
The costs of financial transactions (in either the bond or stock markets) are quoted as bid and ask prices relative to the prevailing market price. But what, really, is meant by “prevailing market price” of thinly traded bonds? Two panellists discussed fixed income transaction cost analysis (TCA) at a webinar sponsored by the Global Association of Risk Professionals on December 12, 2017. Paul Daley, Managing Director at BondWave Information Lab, compared the market microstructure for stocks and bonds. BondWave LLC is a financial technology company and registered investment advisor that provides solutions to facilitate individual bond investing. “Data is the […]
Lower Bond Trading Costs
As the fixed income market evolves, what are the challenges and general directions of transaction cost analysis (TCA)? How can bond investors spend their money more wisely? “The same kind of conversation we used to have with equity dealers … can now occur with fixed income dealers. That means competition will drive down transaction costs,” said Henry Marigliano, Director at FIS Global Trading. FIS is an international provider of financial services technology. He was the was the first of two panellists discussing fixed income transaction cost analysis at a webinar sponsored by the Global Association of Risk Professionals on December […]
Early Warning Signs
“Overall, the energy sector remains stressed,” said Irina Baron, Associate Director at Moody’s Analytics. Baron was the third and final panellist discussing new dynamics in the handling of financial risk management in the energy sector at a webinar sponsored by the Global Association of Risk Professionals on November 29, 2017. Based on expected default frequency (EDF), 75 percent of US publicly-traded companies in the energy sector are not investment-grade risks. “Agency ratings give us a sense of which firms are more likely to default,” she noted. The drawback is that the realized default rate cannot be forecast. However, the expected […]
Managing Risk in Volatile Sector
Market observers have conflicting expectations, especially in the highly changeable energy sector. How can a talented analyst stay on top of it? Mehna Raissi, Senior Director at Moody’s Analytics, was the second of three panellists discussing new dynamics in the handling of financial risk management in the energy sector at a webinar sponsored by the Global Association of Risk Professionals on November 29, 2017. “Between 2008 and 2013, we were worried about rising oil prices,” Raissi said. However, “in the second half of 2014, oil prices came down and the headlines read: Recession caused by low oil prices.” Oil prices […]