Upcoming Webinars

Concerns Examiners have About Your Spreadsheets and How to Respond

• Over the past two decades, bankers have become heavily reliant upon spreadsheets for underwriting decisions as well as risk management reporting and analysis. Despite its popularity, the “spreadsheet approach” entails a considerable number of drawbacks and limitations in both endeavors. Jay Gallo, partner at RMPI Consulting, and Regan Camp, senior risk management consultant at Sageworks, will discuss best practices, common pitfalls, and examiners’ concerns related to using spreadsheets and how some financial institutions address those concerns.
• Thursday, May 23, 2013 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Relationship-Based Banking: How to Balance Risk & Relationships

• By numerous accounts, business banking customers are more satisfied with their financial institutions when they experience personalized service, and community banks have traditionally held an edge over other financial institutions in this regard. Join Jay Borkowski, Sageworks’ vice president and Joe Waites, president of CECO Management Consultants, to understand the three steps that financial institutions need to take to effectively manage risk in a relationship-based banking environment.
• Tuesday, June 11, 2013 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

Stress Testing the Loan PortfolioUnlike the ALLL's definitive methodologies and expectations, stress testing requirements for financial instituions can still cause confusion. Mike Lubansky, director of consulting services at Sageworks, talks about stress testing's data challenges and risk management benefits as well as shows sample outputs and approaches. FASB vs. IASB Proposals: Can't We "ALLL" Just Get Along? In November 2010 the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) began a joint effort to develop an improved model for accounting for the impairment of loans and other financial assets. What has recently emerged over the past four months are independent proposals from the agencies, each presenting a unique approach to the matter. Sageworks’ Mike Lubansky, director of consulting services, and Ed Bayer, senior risk management consultant, discussed an overview of how IASB’s credit deterioration model compares to and differs from FASB’s CECL model, the potential effects on institutions moving forward, and opinions on whether they will align again. Global Cash Flow Analysis: What, When, Why, and How The global cash flow analysis of complex borrower scenarios introduces fresh challenges for corporations and financial institutions. Sageworks’ director of advisory services Chuck Nwokocha and David Matricciano, owner of DM Analytics, LLC discussed best practices for conducting global cash flow analysis and adjusting for double counting, how spreadsheet-based programs can lead to inconsistencies, and how a probability of default can be implemented in the credit and lending process. "ALLL" About Disclosure Reports: 6 Key Issues to Know More than two years after the release of ASU 2010-20, bankers’ interpretation of the disclosure requirements has been inconsistent and ill effective due to the quick implementation goals, ambiguous descriptions and lack of FASB-published documentation to discern the new requirements. Sageworks’ senior risk management consultants Ed Bayer and Regan Camp and Ancin Cooley, Principal of Synergy Bank Consulting, discussed an overview of FASB's Topic 310 update and the key things institutions need to know about it. FASB's CECL Model: How it will impact your ALLL With ASU Financial Instruments: Credit Losses, FASB released its latest proposal outlining how to measure credit losses, and it has the potential to drastically change the allowance for loan and lease losses for an institution. Michael Lubansky and Ed Bayer, Sageworks risk management consultants, and Tom Danielson and Todd Sprang, partners at CliftonLarsonAllen, discuss the new Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) model. They explain how the FASB proposal abandons the “incurred loss” thresholds and attempts to capture “expected losses.” 3 C&I Examination Concerns: Using a Probability of Default to Reduce Risk With the increasing focus on C&I lending, regulators have identified 3 areas that could cause an institution problems during an exam. During this webinar, Sageworks consultant Regan Camp will give some advice on how institutions can prepare for C&I increases and specifically how a probability of default model can serve those purposes. The webinar also includes an overview of Sageworks' probability of default model and the Business Credit Report. The New Normal: How to Achieve Profitable C&I Loan Growth in Today’s Economy As 2013 begins, banks face increasing competitive and regulatory pressure in the C&I lending space. Justin Barr, President of BankDATAWORKS; Michael Iannaccone, President of MDI Investments; and Jon Winick, President of Clark Street Capital, discuss the growing importance of diversified credit risk and cash flow as a hedge against enduring economic uncertainty. They provide expertise on niche C&I lending solutions, as well as on the advantages and risks of buy, build and joint venture alternatives. COMPLY WITH REGULATIONS & SIMPLIFY CREDIT ANALYSIS: PROBABILITY OF DEFAULT MODEL Financial institutions face many challenges related to complying with changing regulations, simplifying and standardizing loan decisions, pre-screening loans, and avoiding credit deterioration. Ancin Cooley, Principal of Synergy Bank Consulting and a former regulator, will discuss what he has learned and best practices, how a probability of default can be implemented in the credit and lending process. RUN A BETTER BANK: USING PRODUCTIVITY & EFFICIENCY MEASURES TO IMPROVE PROFITABILITY How does your financial institution compare to your peer group? Objective productivity and efficiency standards in bank production areas are frequently not developed, and actual levels of performance are not quantified. Experienced bankers John Owens and David Harrop, founders of BCI Financial Services Consulting, review how an institution can measure process throughput and manage ongoing productivity using examples from their proprietary Community Bank Performance Benchmark. ALLL Methodology: How to Justify and Document Your Qualitative Factors An appropriate ALLL provision is critical to an institution’s safety and soundness. One of the biggest challenges to the estimation of the ALLL is the determination of the qualitative adjustments. Ancin Cooley, Principal of Synergy Bank Consulting and a former regulator who has consulted with many institutions on their ALLL methodology, provides tips to build a better framework for the Allowance. He focuses on how to best defend and support your qualitative factors to bring more objectivity to these adjustments. TAX RETURN ANALYSIS: WHEN THE NUMBERS SAY 'NO' BUT GOOD JUDGMENT SAYS 'YES' Do lenders and analysts at financial institutions always understand the judgment behind the numbers they pull from tax returns? Are they able to gain insights into the business from the information on the returns? Do they consider compensating factors of a strong business to use in write-ups and recommendations? Linda Keith, CPA and trainer to hundreds of credit unions and banks throughout the United States every year, discusses what lenders and analysts should do in this environment to make good loan decisions even when the recent cash flow history as evidenced by the tax returns does not seem to support it. CYBER SECURITY & DATA BREACHES Sageworks and Douglas Jambor, Vice President and Director of Technology Consulting at Turner and Associates, discuss best practices for handling data breaches. In this webinar, we review security concerns, how to implement a plan in case of a security breach, and how to limit exposures to your organization. ADDRESSING CHANGING REGULATIONS AND COMPLIANCE ISSUES Compliance issues are one of the top issues for financial institutions, and the constantly changing regulations pose problems for institutions trying to keep up. Sageworks and Chuck Marshall, Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) and Manager at Kennedy and Coe, LLC with over 20 years of experience in the banking industry, share best practices for staying ahead of the regulators. STRESS TESTING: BEST PRACTICES FOR FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS Stress testing is a hot topic amongst regulators and bankers today. Many financial institutions are being encouraged to stress test but are given little guidance or instruction as to how to go about it. Sageworks and Ancin Cooley, Principal of Synergy Bank Consulting and a former regulator who has worked and consulted with several institutions on their stress testing requirements, offer their insights and best practices on how to meet regulators' expectations.