Commercial Lending Review articles from May 2003

Commercial Lending Review archives from May 2003

The credit impact of pension plan assets.(nearly two-thirds of pension plans are underfunded)(Editorial)
May 1, 2003... Anew study by Watson Wyatt & Company, released in March 2003, found that the percentage of employers with fully funded pension plans declined from 84 percent in 1998 to 37 percent in 2002. "With almost two-thirds of pension plans falling...

Credit scoring: best practices and approaches.
May 1, 2003... Speculation has long existed concerning how credit scoring would hold up under a recessionary environment. Many banks and specific departments within the banks (such as small business) introduced credit-scoring technology during a period of...

Small business and CRM: the way to a bank's heart or the heart of a bank?(customer relationship management systems)
May 1, 2003... For the past two years, we have all heard about how small business is the great, untapped market for US banks and how small businesses represent the latest and greatest market for banks. With more than 1.5 million small businesses in the United...

What lenders need to know about unfunded pension liabilities.(Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and unfunded pension liability)
May 1, 2003... Most commercial lenders suffer a mind-numbing feeling at the mere mention of ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended); pension plans; and, especially, the phrase "unfunded pension liability." Many somehow gather...

Pension underfunding: how big is the problem?
May 1, 2003... After the substantial stock market gains of 1995 through 1999, the subsequent downturn in market indicators has been relatively traumatic for equity investors. For instance, over the past three years the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index is...

Are you sure those loan losses are not fraud?
May 1, 2003... Are you experiencing loan losses? Are you sure they're not fraud? Loan and credit product fraud is growing exponentially. These types of fraud can drain millions of dollars from your business in less time than it will take to read this...

A multidimensional analysis of corporate earnings. (Credit Analysis).
May 1, 2003... While the concept of corporate earnings is fairly straightforward, the real-world application is far more complicated. At its root, corporate earnings are the difference between the costs of producing a good or service and the value received...

EBITDA: what your borrower is measuring and how it affects cash. (Workouts).(earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)
May 1, 2003... Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Sounds simple, right? This is not always the case. Lenders, investors, management, and other interested parties use EBITDA as one of the key measures of financial health....

Coaching the small-business owner. (Small Business).(start by melding credit process with client engagement process: teach how to read/use financial statements)
May 1, 2003... I started my career as a credit analyst with a regional New England bank. On the first day of employment, our group of analyst trainees assembled. Our credit manager told us that our real job as bankers was not only to lend money but also to...