Bank Accounting & Finance articles from August 2006

Bank Accounting & Finance archives from August 2006

Improving forecasting and performance measurement: periods of Fed tightening challenge performance-measurement and risk management systems.
August 1, 2006... At last count, the Federal Reserve Board ("Fed") has tightened interest rates in 17 straight Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings over the last 24 months for a total increase in the Fed target rate of 425 basis points (bps). A change...

Derivatives use in bank risk management: the number of banks using derivatives for risk management purposes is approaching 10 percent.
August 1, 2006... It is well known that the top five banks account for more than 95 percent of the notional principal of all derivatives held by banks in the United States. What is less well known is how banks are using these instruments for risk management...

FASB proposes to expand fair value accounting: new exposure draft would affect net income.(Financial Accounting Standards, Board)
August 1, 2006... In January 2006, the Financial Accounting Standards, Board (FASB) issued an exposure draft ("ED"), The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities. If approved, this standard will allow companies to report at fair value...

Hurricane Katrina: one bank's experience: getting customers back in touch with their deposits.(Disaster Recovery)(Fifth District Savings Bank)
August 1, 2006... In many ways, we were just lucky. Fifth District Savings Bank s six offices survived the greatest and most costly natural disaster in U.S. history when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005. This is our bank's story about...

Containing the cost of compliance: a major challenge for financial institutions.(Compliance)
August 1, 2006... Compliance is now driving much of the business agenda for major financial institutions and increasing the frustration and concern of these institutions' management teams. This compliance burden is being transformed from an acceptable cost of...

SAR filings: compliance is not enough: understanding relationships among accounts and customers is key to detecting money laundering and other financial crimes.(Anti-Money Laundering)(suspicious activity report)
August 1, 2006... As with most regulations, the push for better suspicious activity report ("SAR") filings began with the best of intentions. Terrorism and a seemingly new breed of technologically adept criminals shone a spotlight on financial crimes like never...

Revised statement on structured finance activities: reputational risk poses a significant threat to financial institutions.(SEC Update)
August 1, 2006... The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of Thrift Supervision...

U.S. Basel II notice of proposed Rulemaking seeks to maintain strong capital base in the United States: draft guidance contains safegaurds to ensure that overall regulatory capital levels do not decrease.(Regulatory Outlook)(asel Committee on Banking Supervision)
August 1, 2006... In June 2004, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), a committee within the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), issued the International Convergence of Capital Measurement and Capital Standards: A Revised Framework ("Basel II...