US Agencies Publish Examiner Guide to Assess Institutions Amid Crisis
US Agencies (FDIC, FED, NCUA, and OCC), in conjunction with the state bank and credit union regulators, issued examiner guidance to promote consistency and flexibility in the supervision and examination of financial institutions affected by COVID-19 pandemic. In assessing an institution under the principles in the guidance, examiners will consider the institution’s asset size, complexity, risk profile, and the industry and business focus of its customers. In conducting their supervisory assessment, examiners will consider whether institution management has managed risk appropriately, including taking appropriate actions in response to stresses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The interagency guidance highlights that examiners should evaluate management’s initial and ongoing assessment of the risk that the pandemic presents to the institution. Examiners should determine whether management’s assessment of credit risk reasonably reflects the institution’s asset quality, given the prevailing economic conditions in its business markets. In addition to determining the effect on asset quality, examiners should assess management’s understanding of the pandemic’s effects on the institution’s earnings prospects and capital adequacy as well as its effect on funding, liquidity, operations, and sensitivity to market risk. The risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as impact of policy responses, can be challenging to assess in real time. Examiners will assess an institution’s risk identification and reporting processes, given the level of information available and the stage of local economic recovery. The quality of an institution’s risk assessments will be considered, as appropriate, in the examiner’s assessment of supervisory ratings.
The guidance also specifies that, to promote consistency and transparency across the agencies, examiners will continue to assign supervisory ratings in accordance with the applicable rating system, including the Uniform Financial Institutions Rating System (CAMELS rating) and the interagency Rating System for U.S. Branches and Agencies of Foreign Banking Organizations (ROCA rating). Similarly, FED examiners will apply the principles outlined in the document in assigning supervisory ratings to bank holding companies, U.S. intermediate holding companies, and savings and loan holding companies using the RFI/C(D) rating system or Large Financial Institution (LFI) rating system, as applicable, and to the U.S. operations of foreign banking organizations. When assigning the composite and component ratings, examiners will review management’s assessment of risks presented by the pandemic.
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Keywords: Americas, US, Banking, COVID-19, Regulatory Capital, Credit Risk, Market Risk, CAMELS Rating, RFI Rating System, LFI Rating System, Guidance, US Agencies
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