Basel ii Accord Section 486 to 524

486. The criteria must be plausible and intuitive, and must address the guarantor’s ability
and willingness to perform under the guarantee. The criteria must also address the likely
timing of any payments and the degree to which the guarantor’s ability to perform under the
guarantee is correlated with the borrower’s ability to repay. The bank’s criteria must also
consider the extent to which residual risk to the borrower remains, for example a currency
mismatch between the guarantee and the underlying exposure.
 
487. In adjusting borrower grades or LGD estimates (or in the case of retail and eligible
purchased receivables, the process of allocating exposures to pools), banks must take all
relevant available information into account.
 
Credit derivatives
 
488. The minimum requirements for guarantees are relevant also for single-name credit
derivatives. Additional considerations arise in respect of asset mismatches. The criteria used
for assigning adjusted borrower grades or LGD estimates (or pools) for exposures hedged
with credit derivatives must require that the asset on which the protection is based (the
reference asset) cannot be different from the underlying asset, unless the conditions outlined
in the foundation approach are met.
 
489. In addition, the criteria must address the payout structure of the credit derivative and
conservatively assess the impact this has on the level and timing of recoveries. The bank
must also consider the extent to which other forms of residual risk remain.
 
For banks using foundation LGD estimates
 
490. The minimum requirements outlined in paragraphs 480 to 489 apply to banks using
the foundation LGD estimates with the following exceptions:
 
(1) The bank is not able to use an ‘LGD-adjustment’ option; and
 
(2) The range of eligible guarantees and guarantors is limited to those outlined in
paragraph 302.
 
(x) Requirements specific to estimating PD and LGD (or EL) for qualifying purchased
receivables
 
491. The following minimum requirements for risk quantification must be satisfied for any
purchased receivables (corporate or retail) making use of the top-down treatment of default
risk and/or the IRB treatments of dilution risk.
 
492. The purchasing bank will be required to group the receivables into sufficiently
homogeneous pools so that accurate and consistent estimates of PD and LGD (or EL) for
default losses and EL estimates of dilution losses can be determined. In general, the risk
bucketing process will reflect the seller’s underwriting practices and the heterogeneity of its
customers.
 
In addition, methods and data for estimating PD, LGD, and EL must comply with the existing risk quantification standards for retail exposures. In particular, quantification
should reflect all information available to the purchasing bank regarding the quality of the
underlying receivables, including data for similar pools provided by the seller, by the
purchasing bank, or by external sources. The purchasing bank must determine whether the
data provided by the seller are consistent with expectations agreed upon by both parties
concerning, for example, the type, volume and on-going quality of receivables purchased.
Where this is not the case, the purchasing bank is expected to obtain and rely upon more
relevant data.
 
Minimum operational requirements
 
493. A bank purchasing receivables has to justify confidence that current and future
advances can be repaid from the liquidation of (or collections against) the receivables pool.
To qualify for the top-down treatment of default risk, the receivable pool and overall lending
relationship should be closely monitored and controlled. Specifically, a bank will have to
demonstrate the following:
 
Legal certainty
 
494. The structure of the facility must ensure that under all foreseeable circumstances
the bank has effective ownership and control of the cash remittances from the receivables,
including incidences of seller or servicer distress and bankruptcy. When the obligor makes
payments directly to a seller or servicer, the bank must verify regularly that payments are
forwarded completely and within the contractually agreed terms. As well, ownership over the
receivables and cash receipts should be protected against bankruptcy ‘stays’ or legal
challenges that could materially delay the lender’s ability to liquidate/assign the receivables
or retain control over cash receipts.
 
Effectiveness of monitoring systems
 
495. The bank must be able to monitor both the quality of the receivables and the
financial condition of the seller and servicer. In particular:
 
The bank must (a) assess the correlation among the quality of the receivables and
the financial condition of both the seller and servicer, and (b) have in place internal
policies and procedures that provide adequate safeguards to protect against such
contingencies, including the assignment of an internal risk rating for each seller and
servicer.
 
The bank must have clear and effective policies and procedures for determining
seller and servicer eligibility. The bank or its agent must conduct periodic reviews of
sellers and servicers in order to verify the accuracy of reports from the
seller/servicer, detect fraud or operational weaknesses, and verify the quality of the
seller’s credit policies and servicer’s collection policies and procedures. The findings
of these reviews must be well documented.
 
The bank must have the ability to assess the characteristics of the receivables pool,
including
(a) over-advances;
(b) history of the seller’s arrears, bad debts, and bad
debt allowances;
(c) payment terms, and
(d) potential contra accounts.
 
The bank must have effective policies and procedures for monitoring on an
aggregate basis single-obligor concentrations both within and across receivables
pools.
 
The bank must receive timely and sufficiently detailed reports of receivables ageings
and dilutions to
(a) ensure compliance with the bank’s eligibility criteria and
advancing policies governing purchased receivables, and
(b) provide an effective means with which to monitor and confirm the seller’s terms of sale (e.g. invoice date ageing) and dilution.
 
Effectiveness of work-out systems
 
496. An effective programme requires systems and procedures not only for detecting
deterioration in the seller’s financial condition and deterioration in the quality of the
receivables at an early stage, but also for addressing emerging problems pro-actively. In
particular, The bank should have clear and effective policies, procedures, and information
systems to monitor compliance with
(a) all contractual terms of the facility (including covenants, advancing formulas, concentration limits, early amortisation triggers, etc.) as well as
(b) the bank’s internal policies governing advance rates and receivables eligibility.
 
The bank’s systems should track covenant violations and waivers as well as exceptions to established policies and procedures.
 
To limit inappropriate draws, the bank should have effective policies and procedures
for detecting, approving, monitoring, and correcting over-advances.
 
The bank should have effective policies and procedures for dealing with financially
weakened sellers or servicers and/or deterioration in the quality of receivable pools.
 
These include, but are not necessarily limited to, early termination triggers in
revolving facilities and other covenant protections, a structured and disciplined
approach to dealing with covenant violations, and clear and effective policies and
procedures for initiating legal actions and dealing with problem receivables.
 
Effectiveness of systems for controlling collateral, credit availability, and cash
 
497. The bank must have clear and effective policies and procedures governing the
control of receivables, credit, and cash. In particular,
 
Written internal policies must specify all material elements of the receivables
purchase programme, including the advancing rates, eligible collateral, necessary
documentation, concentration limits, and how cash receipts are to be handled.
These elements should take appropriate account of all relevant and material factors,
including the seller’s/servicer’s financial condition, risk concentrations, and trends in
the quality of the receivables and the seller’s customer base.
 
Internal systems must ensure that funds are advanced only against specified
supporting collateral and documentation (such as servicer attestations, invoices,
shipping documents, etc.).
 
Compliance with the bank’s internal policies and procedures
 
498. Given the reliance on monitoring and control systems to limit credit risk, the bank
should have an effective internal process for assessing compliance with all critical policies
and procedures, including
 
regular internal and/or external audits of all critical phases of the bank’s receivables
purchase programme.
 
verification of the separation of duties (i) between the assessment of the
seller/servicer and the assessment of the obligor and (ii) between the assessment of
the seller/servicer and the field audit of the seller/servicer.
 
499. A bank’s effective internal process for assessing compliance with all critical policies
and procedures should also include evaluations of back office operations, with particular
focus on qualifications, experience, staffing levels, and supporting systems.
 
8. Validation of internal estimates
 
500. Banks must have a robust system in place to validate the accuracy and consistency
of rating systems, processes, and the estimation of all relevant risk components. A bank
must demonstrate to its supervisor that the internal validation process enables it to assess
the performance of internal rating and risk estimation systems consistently and meaningfully.
 
501. Banks must regularly compare realised default rates with estimated PDs for each
grade and be able to demonstrate that the realised default rates are within the expected
range for that grade. Banks using the advanced IRB approach must complete such analysis
for their estimates of LGDs and EADs. Such comparisons must make use of historical data
that are over as long a period as possible. The methods and data used in such comparisons
by the bank must be clearly documented by the bank. This analysis and documentation must be updated at least annually.
 
502. Banks must also use other quantitative validation tools and comparisons with
relevant external data sources. The analysis must be based on data that are appropriate to
the portfolio, are updated regularly, and cover a relevant observation period. Banks’ internal
assessments of the performance of their own rating systems must be based on long data
histories, covering a range of economic conditions, and ideally one or more complete
business cycles.
 
503. Banks must demonstrate that quantitative testing methods and other validation
methods do not vary systematically with the economic cycle. Changes in methods and data
(both data sources and periods covered) must be clearly and thoroughly documented.
 
504. Banks must have well-articulated internal standards for situations where deviations
in realised PDs, LGDs and EADs from expectations become significant enough to call the
validity of the estimates into question. These standards must take account of business cycles
and similar systematic variability in default experiences. Where realised values continue to
be higher than expected values, banks must revise estimates upward to reflect their default
and loss experience.
 
505. Where banks rely on supervisory, rather than internal, estimates of risk parameters,
they are encouraged to compare realised LGDs and EADs to those set by the supervisors.
The information on realised LGDs and EADs should form part of the bank’s assessment of
economic capital.
 
9. Supervisory LGD and EAD estimates
 
506. Banks under the foundation IRB approach, which do not meet the requirements for
own-estimates of LGD and EAD, above, must meet the minimum requirements described in
the standardised approach to receive recognition for eligible financial collateral (as set out in
Section II.D: The standardised approach ─ credit risk mitigation). They must meet the
following additional minimum requirements in order to receive recognition for additional
collateral types.
 
(i) Definition of eligibility of CRE and RRE as collateral
 
507. Eligible CRE and RRE collateral for corporate, sovereign and bank exposures are
defined as:
 
Collateral where the risk of the borrower is not materially dependent upon the
performance of the underlying property or project, but rather on the underlying
capacity of the borrower to repay the debt from other sources. As such, repayment
of the facility is not materially dependent on any cash flow generated by the
underlying CRE/RRE serving as collateral; (92) and
 
Additionally, the value of the collateral pledged must not be materially dependent on
the performance of the borrower. This requirement is not intended to preclude
situations where purely macro-economic factors affect both the value of the
collateral and the performance of the borrower.
 
(92) The Committee recognises that in some countries where multifamily housing makes up an important part of the housing market and where public policy is supportive of that sector, including specially established public sector companies as major providers, the risk characteristics of lending secured by mortgage on such residential real estate can be similar to those of traditional corporate exposures.
 
The national supervisor may under such circumstances recognise mortgage on multifamily residential real estate as eligible collateral for corporate exposures.
 
508. In light of the generic description above and the definition of corporate exposures,
income producing real estate that falls under the SL asset class is specifically excluded from
recognition as collateral for corporate exposures. (93)
 
(93) As noted in footnote 73, in exceptional circumstances for well-developed and long-established markets, mortgages on office and/or multi-purpose commercial premises and/or multi-tenanted commercial premises may have the potential to receive recognition as collateral in the corporate portfolio. Please refer to footnote 29 of paragraph 74 for a discussion of the eligibility criteria that would apply.
 
(ii) Operational requirements for eligible CRE/RRE
 
509. Subject to meeting the definition above, CRE and RRE will be eligible for recognition
as collateral for corporate claims only if all of the following operational requirements are met.
 
Legal enforceability: any claim on a collateral taken must be legally enforceable in
all relevant jurisdictions, and any claim on collateral must be properly filed on a
timely basis. Collateral interests must reflect a perfected lien (i.e. all legal
requirements for establishing the claim have been fulfilled). Furthermore, the
collateral agreement and the legal process underpinning it must be such that they
provide for the bank to realise the value of the collateral within a reasonable
timeframe.
 
Objective market value of collateral: the collateral must be valued at or less than the
current fair value under which the property could be sold under private contract
between a willing seller and an arm’s-length buyer on the date of valuation.
 
Frequent revaluation: the bank is expected to monitor the value of the collateral on a
frequent basis and at a minimum once every year. More frequent monitoring is
suggested where the market is subject to significant changes in conditions.
Statistical methods of evaluation (e.g. reference to house price indices, sampling)
may be used to update estimates or to identify collateral that may have declined in
value and that may need re-appraisal. A qualified professional must evaluate the
property when information indicates that the value of the collateral may have
declined materially relative to general market prices or when a credit event, such as
default, occurs.
 
Junior liens: In some member countries, eligible collateral will be restricted to
situations where the lender has a first charge over the property. (94) Junior liens may
be taken into account where there is no doubt that the claim for collateral is legally
enforceable and constitutes an efficient credit risk mitigant. When recognised, junior
liens are to be treated using the C*/C** threshold, which is used for senior liens. In
such cases, the C* and C** are calculated by taking into account the sum of the
junior lien and all more senior liens.
 
 (94) In some of these jurisdictions, first liens are subject to the prior right of preferential creditors, such as outstanding tax claims and employees’ wages.
 
510. Additional collateral management requirements are as follows:
 
The types of CRE and RRE collateral accepted by the bank and lending policies
(advance rates) when this type of collateral is taken must be clearly documented.
 
The bank must take steps to ensure that the property taken as collateral is
adequately insured against damage or deterioration.
 
The bank must monitor on an ongoing basis the extent of any permissible prior
claims (e.g. tax) on the property.
 
The bank must appropriately monitor the risk of environmental liability arising in
respect of the collateral, such as the presence of toxic material on a property.
 
(iii) Requirements for recognition of financial receivables
 
Definition of eligible receivables
 
511. Eligible financial receivables are claims with an original maturity of less than or
equal to one year where repayment will occur through the commercial or financial flows
related to the underlying assets of the borrower. This includes both self-liquidating debt
arising from the sale of goods or services linked to a commercial transaction and general
amounts owed by buyers, suppliers, renters, national and local governmental authorities, or
other non-affiliated parties not related to the sale of goods or services linked to a commercial
transaction. Eligible receivables do not include those associated with securitisations, subparticipations or credit derivatives.
 
Operational requirements
 
Legal certainty
 
512. The legal mechanism by which collateral is given must be robust and ensure that
the lender has clear rights over the proceeds from the collateral.
 
513. Banks must take all steps necessary to fulfil local requirements in respect of the
enforceability of security interest, e.g. by registering a security interest with a registrar. There should be a framework that allows the potential lender to have a perfected first priority claim over the collateral.
 
514. All documentation used in collateralised transactions must be binding on all parties
and legally enforceable in all relevant jurisdictions. Banks must have conducted sufficient
legal review to verify this and have a well founded legal basis to reach this conclusion, and
undertake such further review as necessary to ensure continuing enforceability.
 
515. The collateral arrangements must be properly documented, with a clear and robust
procedure for the timely collection of collateral proceeds. Banks’ procedures should ensure
that any legal conditions required for declaring the default of the customer and timely
collection of collateral are observed. In the event of the obligor’s financial distress or default,
the bank should have legal authority to sell or assign the receivables to other parties without
consent of the receivables’ obligors.
 
Risk management
 
516. The bank must have a sound process for determining the credit risk in the
receivables. Such a process should include, among other things, analyses of the borrower’s
business and industry (e.g. effects of the business cycle) and the types of customers with
whom the borrower does business. Where the bank relies on the borrower to ascertain the
credit risk of the customers, the bank must review the borrower’s credit policy to ascertain its soundness and credibility.
 
517. The margin between the amount of the exposure and the value of the receivables
must reflect all appropriate factors, including the cost of collection, concentration within the
receivables pool pledged by an individual borrower, and potential concentration risk within
the bank’s total exposures.
 
518. The bank must maintain a continuous monitoring process that is appropriate for the
specific exposures (either immediate or contingent) attributable to the collateral to be utilised as a risk mitigant. This process may include, as appropriate and relevant, ageing reports, control of trade documents, borrowing base certificates, frequent audits of collateral,
confirmation of accounts, control of the proceeds of accounts paid, analyses of dilution
(credits given by the borrower to the issuers) and regular financial analysis of both the
borrower and the issuers of the receivables, especially in the case when a small number of
large-sized receivables are taken as collateral. Observance of the bank’s overall
concentration limits should be monitored. Additionally, compliance with loan covenants,
environmental restrictions, and other legal requirements should be reviewed on a regular
basis.
 
519. The receivables pledged by a borrower should be diversified and not be unduly
correlated with the borrower. Where the correlation is high, e.g. where some issuers of the
receivables are reliant on the borrower for their viability or the borrower and the issuers
belong to a common industry, the attendant risks should be taken into account in the setting
of margins for the collateral pool as a whole. Receivables from affiliates of the borrower
(including subsidiaries and employees) will not be recognised as risk mitigants.
 
520. The bank should have a documented process for collecting receivable payments in
distressed situations. The requisite facilities for collection should be in place, even when the
bank normally looks to the borrower for collections.
 
Requirements for recognition of other collateral
 
521. Supervisors may allow for recognition of the credit risk mitigating effect of certain
other physical collateral. Each supervisor will determine which, if any, collateral types in its
jurisdiction meet the following two standards:
 
Existence of liquid markets for disposal of collateral in an expeditious and
economically efficient manner.
 
Existence of well established, publicly available market prices for the collateral.
Supervisors will seek to ensure that the amount a bank receives when collateral is
realised does not deviate significantly from these market prices.
 
522. In order for a given bank to receive recognition for additional physical collateral, it
must meet all the standards in paragraphs 509 and 510, subject to the following
modifications.
 
First Claim: With the sole exception of permissible prior claims specified in footnote
94, only first liens on, or charges over, collateral are permissible. As such, the bank
must have priority over all other lenders to the realised proceeds of the collateral.
The loan agreement must include detailed descriptions of the collateral plus detailed
specifications of the manner and frequency of revaluation.
 
The types of physical collateral accepted by the bank and policies and practices in
respect of the appropriate amount of each type of collateral relative to the exposure
amount must be clearly documented in internal credit policies and procedures and
available for examination and/or audit review.
 
Bank credit policies with regard to the transaction structure must address
appropriate collateral requirements relative to the exposure amount, the ability to
liquidate the collateral readily, the ability to establish objectively a price or market
value, the frequency with which the value can readily be obtained (including a
professional appraisal or valuation), and the volatility of the value of the collateral.
The periodic revaluation process must pay particular attention to “fashion-sensitive”
collateral to ensure that valuations are appropriately adjusted downward of fashion,
or model-year, obsolescence as well as physical obsolescence or deterioration.
 
In cases of inventories (e.g. raw materials, work-in-process, finished goods, dealers’
inventories of autos) and equipment, the periodic revaluation process must include
physical inspection of the collateral.
 
10. Requirements for recognition of leasing
 
523. Leases other than those that expose the bank to residual value risk (see paragraph
524) will be accorded the same treatment as exposures collateralised by the same type of
collateral. The minimum requirements for the collateral type must be met (CRE/RRE or other collateral). In addition, the bank must also meet the following standards:
 
Robust risk management on the part of the lessor with respect to the location of the
asset, the use to which it is put, its age, and planned obsolescence;
 
A robust legal framework establishing the lessor’s legal ownership of the asset and
its ability to exercise its rights as owner in a timely fashion; and
 
The difference between the rate of depreciation of the physical asset and the rate of
amortisation of the lease payments must not be so large as to overstate the CRM
attributed to the leased assets.
 
524. Leases that expose the bank to residual value risk will be treated in the following
manner. Residual value risk is the bank’s exposure to potential loss due to the fair value of
the equipment declining below its residual estimate at lease inception.
 
The discounted lease payment stream will receive a risk weight appropriate for the
lessee’s financial strength (PD) and supervisory or own-estimate of LGD, which ever
is appropriate.
 
The residual value will be risk-weighted at 100%.
   
 

 

 

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