Banking

The previous post about preparing for CECL compliance looked at how to assess data, human, credit management, and technology resource capabilities and needs. It’s a critical step that documents how your institution collects, stores, measures, and manages loan portfolio data, and includes a review of future requirements, warehousing and automation capabilities, and probable risks in your loan portfolio.

In the previous post about preparing for your CECL compliance deadline, we established that there is no one-size-fits-all solution under the new standard. We provided some of the key considerations for determining how sophisticated your model should be, as well as unique benefits and weaknesses of the options available to manage the loan pools in your portfolio.

Once you have evaluated the various model options and identified which you’ll use to perform calculations, it’s time to assess your resource capabilities and needs. This is a big consideration with cross-functional implications. It will help to identify the software models and provider that will be the best fit for your institution. In this step, you'll look at four main categories—data, human, credit data management, and technology. Data should be your starting point, as it will influence every subsequent decision at this juncture.

In the previous post about preparing for your CECL compliance deadline, we looked at the steps needed to analyze the credit risks within your loan portfolio, and clarify the credit quality indicators (CQIs) impacting those risks. These first two steps of this complex, lengthy lead up to your early or required implementation date should have provided you with a solid understanding of the composition of your loan portfolio.

The countdown that began June 16, 2016 is officially underway. The runway to CECL (Current Expected Credit Losses) compliance promises to be riddled with complexities. You don’t need to look much farther than the fact that FASB implementation dates are set several years out to get the sense of how important it is to take a long-term, multi-faceted approach to ensuring compliance.

For the banking industry, 2016 was a year marked by regulatory changes, new channels and heightened awareness of cyber issues, demographic shifts, and new ways of thinking about the role of community banks. Our team published 48 blogs in 2016.

Here are your top 10 most read posts, listed in order of popularity.

On December 14, 2016, the Federal Reserve boosted its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent. While this is still incredibly low by historical standards, it is notable because it’s only the second time since the financial crisis of 2008 that the Fed has raised this rate.

The move continues to support economic growth and sustains a friendly environment for borrowing and risk-taking. It also recognizes that the U.S. is enjoying strong employment and price stability, and healthy inflation, as well as positioning the economy to ride the expected acceleration that will occur as a result of the new Trump administration.

Bank leaders have been asking this question since Donald Trump surprised the nation by winning the election on November 8.

For years, increasing regulations has been the predominant theme for banks. With this unforeseen national shift, we find ourselves looking at the very real possibility of deregulation—and soon. Case in point, on December 1, the House passed a bill that would eliminate the $50B SIFI threshold, replacing it with more qualitative measures. Although this only impacts a few of the country’s largest banks, it is an encouraging sign of things to come. 

The allowance for loan losses (ALLL) standard (ASU 2016-13) known as CECL (Current Expected Credit Losses) was released June 16, 2016. The standard was proposed in 2012 and has been deemed the “biggest change to bank accounting ever.” It’s adoption changes 40 years of standards related to how banks account for changes in their credit risk. It promises to pose significant compliance and operational challenges, and implementation is well underway for some institutions.

Forrester Research recently predicted that President-elect Donald Trump would face a major cyber crisis within the first 100 days of his presidency. While we can’t yet know if that will prove true, other recent events point to a high likelihood and broad implications for U.S. businesses. Consider this – in the past 12 months, we’ve seen major DDoS attacks, the DNC email leak and subsequent resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, personal email hacks of major political and business figures, and an increasingly fragile geopolitical situation.[1] 

FASB issued the Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2016-09, Compensation—Stock Compensation (Topic 718): Improvements to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting in March 2016. The new update takes effect for public business entities for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those annual periods. For private entities, the amendments take effect for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2017, and interim periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2018. Early adoption will be permitted in any interim or annual period, with any adjustments reflected as of the beginning of the fiscal year of adoption.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. EST Wednesday, Donald Trump took a conciliatory call from Hillary Clinton and began his speech to accept the position as the 45^th President of the United States of America.

This morning, across the country, people woke to the news and a gnawing feeling in the pit of their stomach. Regardless of which candidate got our vote and whether we are feeling a sense of victory or defeat, we all share two questions—what does this mean and what is ahead for us? The reality is that we can’t know until we’re able to look back in hindsight.

There’s no shortage of information in the marketplace. Our clients don’t lack insights into their past and current business scenarios. More and more of them are actively pursuing relationships with firms that can help them to be proactive about looking forward. They have recognized that anticipatory insights are absolutely necessary for generating a strong opportunity pipeline as well as to predict (and prevent) problems. HORNE is that partner for many of our clients.

By now, you may have heard that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declared that Congress had taken unconstitutional action with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and introduced a swath of changes that stand to impact providers and consumers in numerous ways. The court's decision puts the CFPB directly under the control of the White House. Currently, the CFPB operates as an independent agency. There are arguments on both sides of that coin, some saying that the autonomy provides necessary stability for the U.S. economy and others saying that it offers a dangerous lack of checks and balances.