Articles

Risk Management
 
AFS Industry Comment: Market Forces & Bank Priorities, October 2008 (PDF file 56.99 KB)
Based on AFS' involvement with global, top-tier financial institutions, the second installment of Industry Comment reveals a volatile market's driving forces and banks' common, shifting priorities.
 
Banks Seeking Capital: Commercial Lending—The Biggest User of Capital—Can Also Emerge as a Major Source. (PDF file 5.95 MB)
Featured in the November issue of the RMA Journal.
 
Got 'Q?' Lending's New Strategic Imperative: Data Quality Throughout The Loan Lifecycle (PDF file 2.11 MB)
Featured in Banking Solutions 2008, "Got 'Q?', Lending's New Strategic Inmperative: Data Quality Throughout the Loan Lifecycle", was written by John Shain, president, AFS.
 
Credit Risk Benchmarks from the RMA/AFS Risk Analysis Service. (PDF file 3.45 MB)
As seen in the October 2008 issue of the RMA Journal: a quarterly review from the RMA Journal that provides an up-to-date view of middle-market credit quality and trends. Includes data from 2Q 2008.
 
RMA/AFS response to the Request for Comment on the Standard & Poor's (S&P) Risk-Adjusted Capital Framework for Financial Institutions. (PDF file 2.65 MB)
RMA/AFS Pillar 3 Working Group coordinated with our member banks and with the Institute of International Finance to form this response to the Request for Comment on the Standard & Poor's (S&P) Risk-Adjusted Capital Framework for Financial Institutions.
 
Credit Risk Benchmarks from the RMA/AFS Risk Analysis Service (PDF file 2.87 MB)
As seen in the July-August issue of the RMA Journal: a quarterly review from the RMA Journal that provides an up-to-date view of middle-market credit quality and trends. Includes data from 1Q 2008.
 
Industry Comment, April 2008 (PDF file 56.39 KB)
The April issue of the AFS Industry Comment, reviews trends in commercial loan processing.
 
"SunTrust's Tom Freeman Steers Through the Crisis" (PDF file 1.24 MB)
The cover story of the May issue of the RMA Journal, features SunTrust Banks' Executive Vice President and CRO Thomas E. Freeman. Through a Q&A with the Risk Management Association's Pamela Martin, Tom provides an in-depth perspective on how SunTrust is experiencing and walking through today's credit market environment.
 
Credit Risk Benchmarks from the RMA/AFS Risk Analysis Service (PDF file 752.70 KB)
As seen in the April issue of the RMA Journal: a quarterly review from the RMA Journal that provides an up-to-date view of middle-market credit quality and trends.
 
Rui Barrento on Risk Management and Post Basel II (PDF file 2.81 MB)
Featured in the March issue of the RMA Journal, this interview with Rui Barrento, head of Risk Infrastructure and Methodology for the Santander Group's Risk Division, discusses the influence Basel II will have on the assignment of economic captial within institutions.
 
Basel II Offers Advantages to Retails Banks: An Interview with Henning Giesecke, chief risk officer of UniCredit Group (PDF file 5.35 MB)
Featured in the February issue of the The RMA Journal, this interview with Henning Giesecke, chief risk officer of UniCredit Group and a member of its management committee, says European institutions are positive about Basel II implementation because it provides an ongoing tool to improve their business. He discussed the impact Basel II will have on his bank and on the industry with Suzanne Wharton, associate director of RMA's Strategic Learning and Research division.
 
Monitoring Risk in Uncertian Times
Published in Mortgage Banking in January, this article by Shaun Brady, AFS Managing Director of Global Real Estate Solutions, discusses the concerns that continue to dominate commercial real estate related business and technology discussions.
 
Risk Management at SunTrust; It's All About Being in Business for Our Customers (PDF file 188.68 KB)
Published in the October issue of the RMA Journal, this interview with Tom Freeman, Chief Risk Officer at SunTrust Bank, discusses Mr. Freeman's views on the industry and his methods for success.
 
AFS Perspective, August 2007, Remote Deposit Capture: Measuring Profitablity (PDF file 249.54 KB)
This issue of the Perspective written by Joe Cannizzaro, AFS Senior Business Analyst, discusses what banks should be doing to determine payments profitability.
 
Reducing Earnings Volatility through Risk Management, The RMA/AFS Risk Analysis Service (PDF file 342.19 KB)
Written by Sue Wharton, an RMA project manager in the Strategic Learning and Research division and Doug Skinner, Director of Regulatory Compliance at AFS, this article discusses how information is used and the importance of benchmarking.
 
The Fine Line Between Managing Concentrations in Credit Risk and Managing the Credit Risk in Concentrations (PDF file 74.94 KB)
Written by AFS, this issue of the RMA/AFS Risk Analysis Service Newsletter discusses how Banks and other industry participants are aggressively exploring techniques to better understand and manage conventional concentrations of credit, as well as concentrations based on less obvious risk correlations.
 
The Emerging Role of Benchmarking in Credit Risk Management, An Introduction to the Risk Rating Index (PDF file 245.69 KB)
This issue of the RMA/AFS Risk Analysis Service Newsletter discusses how as the industry migrates into and through Basel II, greater standardization of approach will emerge. Banks will need new ways and new tools to enable management to gauge where they fit in the broad spectrum of performance.
 
Loan Pricing in the Middle Market (PDF file 927.47 KB)
Written by AFS, this issue of the AFS Perspective focuses on loan pricing in the middle market and the factors that contribute to the wide variance in loan pricing.
 
Bank Lending Credit Risk to Operational Risk DΘjα Vu All Over Again-Not Quite? (PDF file 310.49 KB)
As published in the RMA Journal, this article from AFS discusses how data deficiencies, system "silos", along with inadequate and delayed feedback/communications are the primary causes of process-related operational loss events across the lending business.
 
Managing Risk Across Bank Lines (PDF file 452.69 KB)
Published in Bank Technology News and written by John Shain, president of AFS. This article discusses how risk mitigation has long been part of the culture of financial institutions-with lending getting particular attention.Risk ratings, overall portfolio performance, concentrations, rate spreads, fees, covenant violations and reserves against loan losses all play a huge role in profit and propriety.
 
It's all About Information (PDF file 1.22 MB)
Written by AFS, this issue of the AFS Perspective focuses on information and the key role that it plays in risk mitigation for financial institutions.

Regulatory
 
AFS Perspective "Fair Value, Global Accounting Convergence and its Implications for Banks" by Doug Skinner, AFS Director of Regulatory Compliance (PDF file 260.60 KB)
In this AFS Perspective we will review some of the principal tenants of fair value accounting, review its application to commercial lending, and discuss some important issues for banks to consider as the adoption of fair value and global convergence of accounting standards in general start to take hold.
 
The New Reality of Commercial Real Estate Lending. (PDF file 328.02 KB)
This issue of the Perspective by Shaun Brady, Managing Director, Global Real Estate Solutions discusses the concerns that continue to dominate commercial real estate related business and technology discussions.
 
No risk of money laundering in commercial lending? Think again. (PDF file 66.62 KB)
In this Regulatory Perspective written by Doug Skinner, AFS Director of Regulatory Compliance, AFS examines money laundering red flags in lending, key parts of federal legislation all lending personnel should be aware of, and offers some considerations for more effective BSA/AML compliance in lending.
 
A Regulatory Perspective on Outsourcing (PDF file 195.82 KB)
This issue of the Regulatory Perspective discusses outsourcing in the IT industry. The outsourcing of information technology (IT) services in banking is nothing new to the financial services industry, and the value proposition remains compelling for a number of reasons. Given the market's insatiable demand for faster, cheaper, and more effective service delivery, institutions of all sizes and complexity continue to expand their definition and scope of what can be outsourced and where.
 
Basel II and QIS 4: Where Do We Go From Here? (PDF file 245.02 KB)
This edition of the AFS Perspective written by Doug Skinner, AFS Director of Regulatory Compliance discusses Basel II and how it offers a tremendous opportunity for banks by stimulating organizations to upgrade their data collection and warehousing systems, risk models, and reporting capabilities.
 
Regulatory Focus on Commercial Real Estate Lending ( (PDF file 855.65 KB)
This edition of the AFS Perspective written by Doug Skinner, AFS Director of Regulatory Compliance discusses the emerging challenges surrounding recent trends in CRE growth and the steady weakening of underwriting standards.
 
Basel 1A: Political Compromise or Meaningful Reform? (PDF file 211.89 KB)
This edition of the AFS Perspective written by Doug Skinner, AFS Director of Regulatory Compliance discusses Basel IA and the impact that it will have on the majority of U.S. banks regardless of size.
 
Getting to the core of BASEL II:mitigating risk in lending (PDF file 129.74 KB)
This article published in the Euromoney Syndicated Lending Handbook 2005 was written by John Shain, president of AFS. It discusses how Basel II has forced the issue of technological antiquation in lending. While financial institutions scramble to get the data to feed their capital models, they need to be careful not to lose sight of the fundamental thrust of Basel II, which is risk mitigation.
 
Qualitative drivers in RISK MANAGEMENT:Basel II's overlooked second pillar (PDF file 74.31 KB)
This article published in the Euromoney Compliance Officer's Handbook written by John Shain, president of AFS and Doug Skinner, AFS Director of Regulatory Compliance, discusses Basel II's "Pillar 2 - Supervisory Review" the intent of which is to set out supervisory principles, processes, and specific issues to be addressed.
 
Meeting New and Evolving Needs of Commercial Banking While Mitigating Risk (PDF file 369.65 KB)
Published in Bank Systems and Technology and written by John Shain, president of AFS. This article discusses how banks should look to regulatory compliance as an opportunity for improvement

Straight-Through Processing
 
Analysis: US Commercial Lending SystemsùNavigating the Patchwork (PDF file 108.73 KB)
This article "Analysis: US Commercial Lending Systems" was published in the International Banking Systems magazine and analyzes US Commercial Lending Systems.
 
Easing Lenders Growing Pains (PDF file 6.84 MB)
As published in Bank Systems and Technology, this article discusses how expansion can cause operational pain in addition to loan revenue gains and that outsourcing may offer a remedy. Includes an interview with Sovereign Bank and their choice to use AFS to outsource their loan processing.
 
Straight-Through Processing in Commercial Lending: AFS Delivers the Whole Nine Yards (PDF file 467.88 KB)
Published by Tower Group consulting, this TowerGroup Note discusses how the rapid changes in technology, capital market dynamics, and regulatory requirements are sweeping the financial landscape, foretelling an unprecedented transformation of the commercial lending industry over the next several years and how straight through processing will impact wholesale banks.
 
A Compelling Solution for Loan Origination (PDF file 427.33 KB)
Written by AFS, this issue of the AFS Perspective focuses on the origination process and how to mitigate risk, cut costs and enhance revenue and profitability with the AFS Origination product.
 
The AFS Consumer Advantage Consumer Loan Portfolio Management (PDF file 71.90 KB)
This AFS article discusses the value and return-on-investment advantages of the AFS Consumer loan system.