The RMA Journal articles from May 2003

The RMA Journal archives from May 2003

Weapons That Build. (from Your RMA Leadership)
May 1, 2003... I'm approaching my second anniversary at RMA, and what a two years it's been. As I plugged in my laptop at RMA in May 2001, the U.S. was in economic doldrums, but consumer confidence remained high. Soon thereafter, a president of a Federal...

Weathering Risk
May 1, 2003... An Interview with David Godfrey, CRO Financial Services Business Group, Swiss Re It's not every financial institution that offers a free report on the possible ramifications of the coming solar maximum. Yet to Swiss Re, the weather in space...

The Growing Importance of Leveraged Loans. (Issues in Lending)
May 1, 2003... The leveraged loan market--the market for syndicated bank loans to non-investment-grade borrowers--holds surprises for investors, without the negative spin the word "surprise" usually implies. A growing market and growing array of players make...

Welcome to the World of International Banking!
May 1, 2003... The world marketplace is dynamic and exciting with its appeal of untapped markets and suppliers attracting businesses of all sizes. In the past 20 years, international trade in the U.S. has grown from 12% of GDP to 20%. With the development of...

A Big Boost for Business from Pricing Local Risks: International Standards for Assessing Country Risk. (Country Risk)
May 1, 2003... This article presents a cogent argument for a set of international standards that can be used in pricing risk, thereby ensuring proper rewards for risks taken and better pricing for those customers and jurisdictions using best practices in their...

Mark-to-Market Accounting Undercuts Banks' Loan Hedging. (Accounting Issues)
May 1, 2003... FAS mandates that derivatives be recognized in the statement of financial condition as either assets or liabilities and are to be disclosed at fair value. Changes in fair value of the derivative instrument may be offset by changes in the value...

Credit Default Swaps and the Issue of Restructuring: Documentation, Market Practice, and Risk Management. (Credit Default Swaps)
May 1, 2003... Flexibility is a key word for credit derivatives documentation, which has evolved rapidly. The documentation choices now include original restructuring, modified restructuring, and modified-modified restructuring. New Basel rules may facilitate...

Empirical Examination of the Basel II Proposals for Asset Securitization. (Asset Securitization)
May 1, 2003... Punishment or reward? That is, will a more risk-sensitive approach to asset securitization prove better for banks than the minimum capital requirements currently in place? Two stylized portfolios--one of investment-grade loans and one of...

Gets Confusing Fast: A Review of the GCF Repo[R] Service. (Interest Rate Swaps)
May 1, 2003... If terms like "CUSIP," "reversing in," "non-inter-dealer broker netting members," and "tn-party-like settlement" have kept you from taking advantage of a relatively safe, flexible, short-term funding source, spend a few minutes to learn how to...

Rethinking Large Corporate Banking: Part I-What Did the Past Decade Teach Us?
May 1, 2003... Major trends of the last decade have taken subtle hold in shaping how different banks view their large corporate banking strategies. Although recent announcements of significant loan losses suggest nothing has been learned, equally compelling...

Preparing for Basel II Modeling Requirements; Part 1: Model Development. (Capital Requirements)
May 1, 2003... Gain the benefit of a regional bank's experience. In this first of four articles, Jeff Morrison discusses SunTrust Banks' approach to statistical modeling. Part II details steps taken to validate the model. Part III pulls it all together within...

The Matched-Allocation Position and Performance Statement. (Accounting Issues)
May 1, 2003... Bringing his trilogy to a close, John Cassis pulls together the matched-allocation position statement and the matched-allocation performance statement to provide the best possible picture of a company's performance over a defined time period. ...

It's a Man's World? Don't Tell Donna Coughey!
May 1, 2003... "Influencing the Face of Banking: An Executive Women's Forum," presented by RMA and Financial Women International, takes place May 18-20 in New Orleans. Donna Coughey will be part of a plenary panel discussing the issues and challenges facing...

Optimizing the Director's Role in Governance. (Management Strategies)
May 1, 2003... A member of a community bank board of directors joins the author in this second of two articles on board governance and selection. No couch potatoes need apply for what will be a lot of hard and often unglamorous work, and the bank must be...

A Bank and Community Team Player. (RMA Volunteer Profile)
May 1, 2003... Timothy Abell, president, Fleet Bank Pennsylvania Timothy Abell has spent his 20-year banking career involved in some aspect of commercial lending, and all of it in the Philadelphia area. Abell started his career at Continental Bank,...

Hold the Phone! ...and Ask Questions. (Sales Savvy)
May 1, 2003... Had Marie Antoinette been a banker, would she have said, "Let them eat rates"? Whether you're dealing with a subject or a prospective customer, showing a genuine interest in someone's need not only serves the customer better but keeps a...

Risk: Getting Started in Operational Risk; Approaches and Their Drawbacks
May 1, 2003... A seven-part series explores risk management at regional banks to help senior managers make better decisions about methodologies and processes. As regional banks begin setting up enterprise risk management programs, they are devoting...

Ten Predictions for Risk Management. (Enterprise-Wide Risk Management)
May 1, 2003... It's so tempting to think that it was much easier to advance a banking career in the "good old days" (which vary, depending on our age). Well, 2003 will some day be known as the "good old days" of enterprise-wide risk management. The future...

What's a Check? (Management Strategies)
May 1, 2003... It's been over 30 years since Dale Reistad coined the phrase "checkless society." While that vision has yet to come to full fruition, signs abound that the long-predicted migration to electronic payments is under way and gathering steam. But...