Credit Risk

What is Credit Risk?

According to the Basel III framework, credit risk is defined as the potential that a bank borrower or counterparty will fail to meet its obligations in accordance with agreed terms.

Credit risk assessment is the assessment of the credit risk of a counterparty against the financial institution’s credit acceptance criteria, to ascertain the counterparty’s ability and willingness to honour its credit obligations, either at origination or at any point during the lifetime of a credit.

The goal of credit risk management is to maximise a bank’s risk-adjusted rate of return, by maintaining credit risk exposure within acceptable parameters. Banks need to manage the credit risk inherent in the entire portfolio, as well as the risk in individual credits or transactions.

Robust credit risk management is an integral component of the long-term viability of financial institutions. This is also critical for the sustainable development of the real economy.

Although the board and senior management play a key role in credit risk oversight, the responsibility for credit risk management is spread throughout a financial institution.

Business lines are primarily responsible for managing credit risks inherent in day-to-day activities, such as where credit officers evaluate customers for potential credit opportunities.

The risk management function provides an independent perspective on credit risk management issues, including credit decisions and overall credit quality. The internal audit function provides assurance on the quality and effectiveness of the institution’s internal controls, systems and processes for credit risk oversight.

Credit exposure covers all direct and indirect claims, commitments, and contingent liabilities, arising from on- and off-balance sheet transactions which include, but are not limited to:

(a) outstanding loans, financing, advances and receivables;

(b) deposit and investment account placements, and margins held with counterparties;

(c) debt securities held;

(d) exposures arising from securities financing transactions and derivative transactions; and

(e) exposures arising from off-balance sheet facilities.

Significant credit exposure is a credit exposure, or a set of similar credit exposures, that has a material impact on a financial institution’s credit risk profile, including where:

(a) the credit exposure is currently, or expected to be, large relative to the financial institution’s total credit portfolio; and

(b) a default of, significant deterioration in credit risk of, or adverse news about a counterparty, may have significant financial or reputational implications on the financial institution;

The board and senior management

The board has the overall responsibility to promote a sound credit risk management environment, to support prudent credit decision-making.

The board must annually approve the financial institution’s credit risk strategy, which articulates the financial institution’s overall direction for its credit activities.

An effective credit risk strategy must ultimately support the long-term viability of the financial institution through an optimal balance between the credit quality, profitability and growth objectives.

The board must consider the interactions between the credit risk strategy and institution-specific factors, such as the financial institution’s risk appetite, existing levels of capital and provisioning needs in business-as-usual and stressed scenarios, adequacy of internal resources, as well as the wider operating environment.

Senior management must be collectively responsible for the effective management of credit risk in line with the financial institution’s approved credit risk strategy.

Senior management must ensure that the credit risk strategy is implemented effectively, including by establishing a board-approved credit risk policy.

The credit risk policy must be periodically reviewed and updated to reflect changes to the credit risk strategy or the financial institution’s wider operating environment, and any review or update must be approved by the board.

Appropriate remedial or disciplinary actions must be taken if the credit risk policy is not complied with, supported by clear avenues to report to the board on any credit risk management issues and breaches in a timely manner.

A financial institution must establish sound and well-defined credit acceptance criteria to facilitate an ex-ante evaluation of prospective credits.

The credit acceptance criteria must take into consideration common credit characteristics for distinct categories of counterparties or facilities, and the boundaries of the credit risk strategy and credit risk policy.

A financial institution must primarily focus on the counterparty’s ability and willingness to honour its credit obligations in a timely manner under normal and stressed conditions, when undertaking the credit risk assessment for a credit facility.

Credit risk monitoring refers to the ongoing monitoring of the performance of individual credit exposures, and the overall credit portfolio.

Having a robust framework to support monitoring activities is essential for a financial institution to identify changes in its credit risk profile in a timely manner.

Well-defined reporting structures will ensure that key monitoring outcomes, such as those relating to significant credit exposures, are escalated appropriately to support oversight and decision-making by the board and senior management.

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Learning from the Annual Reports

Credit risk, important parts from the 2021 Annual Report, Lloyds Banking Group plc

Credit risk is defined as the risk that parties with whom the Group has contracted fail to meet their financial obligations (both on and off balance sheet).

EXPOSURES

The principal sources of credit risk within the Group arise from loans and advances, contingent liabilities, commitments, debt securities and derivatives to customers, financial institutions and sovereigns.

In terms of loans and advances (for example mortgages, term loans and overdrafts) and contingent liabilities (for example credit instruments such as guarantees and documentary letters of credit), credit risk arises both from amounts advanced and commitments to extend credit to a customer or bank. With respect to commitments to extend credit, the Group is also potentially exposed to an additional loss up to an amount equal to the total unutilised commitments.

However, the likely amount of loss may be less than the total unutilised commitments, as most retail and certain commercial lending commitments may be cancelled based on regular assessment of the prevailing creditworthiness of customers. Most commercial term commitments are also contingent upon customers maintaining specific credit standards.

Credit risk exposures in the Insurance and Wealth division relate mostly to bond and loan assets which, together with some related swaps, are used to fund annuity commitments within Shareholder funds; plus balances held in liquidity funds to manage Insurance division’s liquidity requirements, and exposure to reinsurers.

Loans and advances, contingent liabilities, commitments, debt securities and derivatives also expose the Group to refinance risk. Refinance risk is the possibility that an outstanding exposure cannot be repaid at its contractual maturity date.

If the Group does not wish to refinance the exposure, then there is refinance risk if the obligor is unable to repay by securing alternative finance. This may occur for a number of reasons which may include: the borrower is in financial difficulty, because the terms required to refinance are outside acceptable appetite at the time or the customer is unable to refinance externally due to a lack of market liquidity.

Refinance risk exposures are managed in accordance with the Group’s existing credit risk policies, processes and controls, and are not considered to be material given the Group’s prudent and through-the-cycle credit risk appetite. Where heightened refinance risk exists exposures are minimised through intensive account management and, where appropriate, are classed as impaired and/or forborne.

MEASUREMENT

The process for credit risk identification, measurement and control is integrated into the Board-approved framework for credit risk appetite and governance.

Credit risk is measured from different perspectives using a range of appropriate modelling and scoring techniques at a number of levels of granularity, including total balance sheet, individual portfolio, pertinent concentrations and individual customer - for both new business and existing exposure. Key metrics, which may include total exposure, expected credit loss (ECL), risk-weighted assets, new business quality, concentration risk and portfolio performance, are reported monthly to Risk Committees and Forums.

Measures such as ECL, risk-weighted assets, observed credit performance, predicted credit quality (usually from predictive credit scoring models), collateral cover and quality, and other credit drivers (such as cash flow, affordability, leverage and indebtedness) have been incorporated into the Group's credit risk management practices to enable effective risk measurement across the Group.

The Group has also continued to strengthen its capabilities and abilities for identifying, assessing and managing climate-related risks and opportunities, recognising that Climate change is likely to result in changes in the risk profile and outlook for the Group's customers, the sectors the Group operates in and collateral/asset valuations.

In addition, stress testing and scenario analysis are used to estimate impairment losses and capital demand forecasts for both regulatory and internal purposes and to assist in the formulation of credit risk appetite.

As part of the ‘three lines of defence’ model, the Risk division is the second line of defence providing oversight and independent challenge to key risk decisions taken by business management. The Risk division also tests the effectiveness of credit risk management and internal credit risk controls.

This includes ensuring that the control and monitoring of higher risk and vulnerable portfolios and sectors is appropriate and confirming that appropriate loss allowances for impairment are in place. Output from these reviews helps to inform credit risk appetite and credit policy.

As the third line of defence, Group Internal Audit undertakes regular risk-based reviews to assess the effectiveness of credit risk management and controls.

MITIGATION

The Group uses a range of approaches to mitigate credit risk.

Prudent, through-the-cycle credit principles, risk policies and appetite statements: the independent Risk division sets out the credit principles, credit risk policies and credit risk appetite statements. These are subject to regular review and governance, with any changes subject to an approval process. Risk teams monitor credit performance trends and the outlook. Risk teams also test the adequacy of and adherence to credit risk policies and processes throughout the Group. This includes tracking portfolio performance against an agreed set of credit risk appetite tolerances.

Limitations on concentration risk: there are portfolio controls on certain industries, sectors and products to reflect risk appetite as well as individual, customer and bank limit risk tolerances. Credit policies and appetite statements are aligned to the Group’s risk appetite and restrict exposure to higher risk countries and potentially vulnerable sectors and asset classes.

Exposures are monitored to prevent both an excessive concentration of risk and single name concentrations. These concentration risk controls are not necessarily in the form of a maximum limit on exposure, but may instead require new business in concentrated sectors to fulfil additional minimum policy and/or guideline requirements. The Group’s largest credit limits are regularly monitored by the Board Risk Committee and reported in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Defined country risk management framework: the Group sets a broad maximum country risk appetite. Risk-based appetite for all countries is set within the independent Risk division, taking into account economic, financial, political and social factors as well as the approved business and strategic plans of the Group.

Specialist expertise: credit quality is managed and controlled by a number of specialist units within the business and Risk division, which provide for example: intensive management and control; security perfection; maintenance of customer and facility records; expertise in documentation for lending and associated products; sector-specific expertise; and legal services applicable to the particular market segments and product ranges offered by the Group.

Stress testing: the Group’s credit portfolios are subject to regular stress testing. In addition to the Group-led, PRA and other regulatory stress tests, exercises focused on individual divisions and portfolios are also performed.

Frequent and robust credit risk assurance: assurance of credit risk is undertaken by an independent function operating within the Risk division which are part of the Group’s second line of defence. Their primary objective is to provide reasonable and independent assurance and confidence that credit risk is being effectively managed and to ensure that appropriate controls are in place and being adhered to. Group Internal Audit also provides assurance to the Audit Committee on the effectiveness of credit risk management controls across the Group’s activities.

COLLATERAL

The principal types of acceptable collateral include:

• Residential and commercial properties

• Charges over business assets such as premises, inventory, and accounts receivable

• Financial instruments such as debt securities vehicles

• Cash

• Guarantees received from third parties

The Group maintains appetite parameters on the acceptability of specific classes of collateral.

For non-mortgage retail lending to small businesses, collateral may include second charges over residential property and the assignment of life cover.

Collateral held as security for financial assets other than loans and advances is determined by the nature of the underlying exposure. Debt securities, including treasury and other bills, are generally unsecured, with the exception of asset-backed securities and similar instruments such as covered bonds, which are secured by portfolios of financial assets.

Collateral is generally not held against loans and advances to financial institutions. However, securities are held as part of reverse repurchase or securities borrowing transactions or where a collateral agreement has been entered into under a master netting agreement.

Derivative transactions with financial counterparties are typically collateralised under a Credit Support Annex (CSA) in conjunction with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreement. Derivative transactions with non-financial customers are not usually supported by a CSA.

The requirement for collateral and the type to be taken at origination will be based upon the nature of the transaction and the credit quality, size, and structure of the borrower. For non-retail exposures, if required, the Group will often seek that any collateral includes a first charge over land and buildings owned and occupied by the business, a debenture over the assets of a company or limited liability partnership, personal guarantees, limited in amount, from the directors of a company or limited liability partnership and key man insurance.

The Group maintains policies setting out which types of collateral valuation are acceptable, maximum loan to value (LTV) ratios and other criteria that are to be considered when reviewing an application. The fundamental business proposition must evidence the ability of the business to generate funds from normal business sources to repay a customer or counterparty’s financial commitment, rather than reliance on the disposal of any security provided.

Although lending decisions are primarily based on expected cash flows, any collateral provided may impact the pricing and other terms of a loan or facility granted. This will have a financial impact on the amount of net interest income recognised and on internal loss given default estimates that contribute to the determination of asset quality and returns.

The Group requires collateral to be realistically valued by an appropriately qualified source, independent of both the credit decision process and the customer, at the time of borrowing. In certain circumstances, for Retail residential mortgages this may include the use of automated valuation models based on market data, subject to accuracy criteria and LTV limits.

Where third parties are used for collateral valuations, they are subject to regular monitoring and review. Collateral values are subject to review, which will vary according to the type of lending, collateral involved and account performance. Such reviews are undertaken to confirm that the value recorded remains appropriate and whether revaluation is required, considering, for example, account performance, market conditions and any information available that may indicate that the value of the collateral has materially declined.

In such instances, the Group may seek additional collateral and/or other amendments to the terms of the facility. The Group adjusts estimated market values to take account of the costs of realisation and any discount associated with the realisation of the collateral when estimating credit losses. The Group considers risk concentrations by collateral providers and collateral type with a view to ensuring that any potential undue concentrations of risk are identified and suitably managed by changes to strategy, policy and/or business plans.

The Group seeks to avoid correlation or wrong-way risk where possible. Under the Group’s repurchase (repo) policy, the issuer of the collateral and the repo counterparty should be neither the same nor connected. The same rule applies for derivatives. The Risk division has the necessary discretion to extend this rule to other cases where there is significant correlation. Countries with a rating equivalent to AA- or better may be considered to have no adverse correlation between the counterparty domiciled in that country and the country of risk (issuer of securities).

Additional mitigation for Retail customers

The Group uses a variety of lending criteria when assessing applications for mortgages and unsecured lending. The general approval process uses credit acceptance scorecards and involves a review of an applicant’s previous credit history using internal data and information held by Credit Reference Agencies (CRA).

The Group also assesses the affordability and sustainability of lending for each borrower. For secured lending this includes use of an appropriate stressed interest rate scenario. Affordability assessments for all lending are compliant with relevant regulatory and conduct guidelines. The Group takes reasonable steps to validate information used in the assessment of a customer’s income and expenditure.

In addition, the Group has in place quantitative limits such as maximum limits for individual customer products, the level of borrowing to income and the ratio of borrowing to collateral. Some of these limits relate to internal approval levels and others are policy limits above which the Group will typically reject borrowing applications. The Group also applies certain criteria that are applicable to specific products, for example applications for buy-to-let mortgages.

For UK mortgages, the Group’s policy permits owner occupier applications with a maximum LTV of 95 per cent. This can increase to 100 per cent for specific products where additional security is provided by a supporter of the applicant and held on deposit by the Group. Applications with an LTV above 90 per cent are subject to enhanced underwriting criteria, including higher scorecard cut-offs and loan size restrictions.

Buy-to-let mortgages within Retail are limited to a maximum loan size of £1,000,000 and 75 per cent LTV. Buy-to-let applications must pass a minimum rental cover ratio of 125 per cent under stressed interest rates, after applicable tax liabilities. Portfolio landlords (customers with four or more mortgaged buy-to-let properties) are subject to additional controls including evaluation of overall portfolio resilience.

The Group’s policy is to reject any application for a lending product where a customer is registered as bankrupt or insolvent, or has a recent County Court Judgment or financial default registered at a CRA used by the Group above de minimis thresholds. In addition, the Group typically rejects applicants where total unsecured debt, debt-to- income ratios, or other indicators of financial difficulty exceed policy limits.

Where credit acceptance scorecards are used, new models, model changes and monitoring of model effectiveness are independently reviewed and approved in accordance with the governance framework set by the Group Model Governance Committee.

Additional mitigation for Commercial customers

Individual credit assessment and independent sanction of customer and bank limits: with the exception of small exposures to SME customers where certain relationship managers have limited delegated sanctioning authority, credit risk in commercial customer portfolios is subject to sanction by the independent Risk division, which considers the strengths and weaknesses of individual transactions, the balance of risk and reward, and how credit risk aligns to the Group and divisional risk appetite.

Exposure to individual counterparties, groups of counterparties or customer risk segments is controlled through a tiered hierarchy of credit authority delegations and risk-based credit limit guidances per client group for larger exposures. Approval requirements for each decision are based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the transaction amount, the customer’s aggregate facilities, any risk mitigation in place, credit policy, risk appetite, credit risk ratings and the nature and term of the risk.

The Group’s credit risk appetite criteria for counterparty and customer loan underwriting is generally the same as that for loans intended to be held to maturity. All hard loan/bond underwriting must be sanctioned by the Risk division. A pre-approved credit matrix may be used for ‘best efforts’ underwriting.

Counterparty credit limits: limits are set against all types of exposure in a counterparty name, in accordance with an agreed methodology for each exposure type. This includes credit risk exposure on individual derivatives and securities financing transactions, which incorporates potential future exposures from market movements against agreed confidence intervals. Aggregate facility levels by counterparty are set and limit breaches are subject to escalation procedures.

Daily settlement limits: settlement risk arises in any situation where a payment in cash, securities or equities is made in the expectation of a corresponding receipt in cash, securities or equities. Daily settlement limits are established for each relevant counterparty to cover the aggregate of all settlement risk arising from the Group’s market transactions on any single day. Where possible, the Group uses Continuous Linked Settlement in order to reduce foreign exchange (FX) settlement risk.

MONITORING

In conjunction with the Risk division, businesses identify and define portfolios of credit and related risk exposures and the key behaviours and characteristics by which those portfolios are managed and monitored. This entails the production and analysis of regular portfolio monitoring reports for review by senior management. The Risk division in turn produces an aggregated view of credit risk across the Group, including reports on material credit exposures, concentrations, concerns and other management information, which is presented to the divisional risk committees and forums, Group Risk Committee and the Board Risk Committee.

Models

The performance of all models used in credit risk is monitored in line with the Group’s model governance framework.

Intensive care of customers in financial difficulty

The Group operates a number of solutions to assist borrowers who are experiencing financial stress. The material elements of these solutions through which the Group has granted a concession, whether temporarily or permanently, are set out below.

Forbearance

The Group’s aim in offering forbearance and other assistance to customers in financial distress is to benefit both the customer and the Group by supporting its customers and acting in their best interests by, where possible, bringing customer facilities back into a sustainable position.

The Group offers a range of tools and assistance to support customers who are encountering financial difficulties. Cases are managed on an individual basis, with the circumstances of each customer considered separately and the action taken judged as being appropriate and sustainable for both the customer and the Group.

Forbearance measures consist of concessions towards a debtor that is experiencing or about to experience difficulties in meeting its financial commitments. This can include modification of the previous terms and conditions of a contract or a total or partial refinancing of a troubled debt contract, either of which would not have been required had the debtor not been experiencing financial difficulties.

The provision and review of such assistance is controlled through the application of an appropriate policy framework and associated controls. Regular review of the assistance offered to customers is undertaken to confirm that it remains appropriate, alongside monitoring of customers’ performance and the level of payments received.

The Group classifies accounts as forborne at the time a customer in financial difficulty is granted a concession. However, where customers were temporarily impacted by COVID-19, the Group looked to follow regulator principles and guidance on the granting of concessions resulting from the impact of the pandemic.

Balances in default or classified as Stage 3 are always considered to be non-performing. Balances may be non-performing but not in default or Stage 3, where for example they are within their nonperforming forbearance cure period.

Non-performing exposures can be reclassified as performing forborne after a minimum 12-month cure period, providing there are no past due amounts or concerns regarding the full repayment of the exposure.

A minimum of a further 24 months must pass from the date the forborne exposure was reclassified as performing forborne before the account can exit forbearance. If conditions to exit forbearance are not met at the end of this probation period, the exposure shall continue to be identified as forborne until all the conditions are met.

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You may also visit:

The Role of the Risk Officer: https://www.risk-officer.com/Role_Of_Risk_Officer.html

Credit Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Credit_Risk.htm

Market Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Market_Risk.htm

Operational Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Operational_Risk.htm

Systemic Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Systemic_Risk.htm

Political Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Political_Risk.htm

Strategic Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Strategic_Risk.htm

Conduct Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Conduct_Risk.htm

Reputation Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Reputation_Risk.htm

Liquidity Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Liquidity_Risk.htm

Cyber Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Cyber_Risk.htm

Climate Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Climate_Risk.htm

Emerging Risk: https://www.risk-officer.com/Emerging_Risk.htm

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