Risk Analysis Service to Offer Commercial Credit Risk Benchmarking for Community Banks

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From the May Issue of the RMA/AFS Credit Risk Benchmarks Report for 4Q08

The Risk Analysis Service (RAS) has released its 1Q09 data on commercial credit risk for 17 leading financial institutions


eRAS Commercial Credit Risk Benchmarking for Community Banks brochure

RMA and AFS launched a Web-based benchmarking product for institutions with less than $3.5 billion in assets. Similar to their product for large institutions, eRAS will allow community banks to compare their portfolio mix and risk profile to a market-based composite.

Philadelphia, PA - January, 14 2009 - The Risk Management Association (RMA) and Automated Financial Systems (AFS) announced the launch of a Web-based commercial credit risk-benchmarking product for community banks. Using eRAS, community banks will be able to compare their portfolio mix and risk profile to a market-based composite. The product is similar to Risk Analysis Service for large institutions, which was launched by RMA and AFS in 2003.

"eRAS data will provide a meaningful basis for self-assessment under ever-changing market conditions," said Kevin Blakely, RMA president and CEO. "Our community bank members face increasing pressure to effectively manage the institution in a recessionary period. eRAS should provide excellent value to banks with several hundred million dollars in commercial loan exposure and an asset size of somewhere between $500 million and $1.5 billion."

eRAS reports are available on a quarterly basis. The product enables banks to compare their data to the overall market. Data is available by industry, geography, and collateral, enabling the identification and better management of industry concentrations, risk rating distributions and weighted average borrower risk ratings, delinquency and non-accrual levels, and net charge-off experience for the overall market.

Using eRAS, community banks are able to compare their commercial credit portfolio mix and risk profile to a market-based composite at a level of detail and quality not previously available in the market. Community banks are using eRAS reports in the following ways:

	Gauging their bank's performance versus the marketplace
	Correlating risk with loan characteristics
	Conducting trend analysis
	Assisting in setting loan loss reserve levels
	Providing an ongoing source of highly relevant credit risk conditions and trends
	Preparing presentations to management that include an independent view of market performance

More information about eRAS is available by contacting your community bank relationship manager.

About RMA
Founded in 1914, The Risk Management Association is a not-for-profit, member-driven professional association whose sole purpose is to advance the use of sound risk principles in the financial services industry. RMA promotes an enterprise approach to risk management that focuses on credit risk, market risk, and operational risk. Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, RMA has 3,000 institutional members that include banks of all sizes as well as nonbank financial institutions. They are represented in the Association by more than 20,000 risk management professionals who are chapter members in financial centers throughout North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. Visit RMA on the Web at www.rmahq.org.

About Automated Financial Systems, Inc.
Automated Financial Systems, Inc. (AFS) is an information technology and software development company providing products and professional services exclusively to the financial services industry. Its mission is to work with forward-looking financial institutions to build the industry-leading global franchise for lending processes based on a straight-through processing model and on-demand technology and services. AFS assists clients by combining the lending applications, execution expertise, and management information to mitigate risk, reduce costs, and increase revenue. The firm is headquartered in Exton, Pa.; its European subsidiary, AFS GmbH, is located in Vienna, Austria. Visit AFS on the Web at www.afsvision.com.