RMA Business Services

Come and explore with us, as we discuss how to manage liquidity and market risk through the ALCO process.

Event brochure (pdf)

Course Overview
Best Practices in Asset/Liability Management: A Focus on Liquidity and Market Risk is an intermediate/advanced course designed to provide the skills necessary to further your understanding of the impact of changing market conditions on the soundness of the balance sheet and profitability of the income statement. The program explores issues in liquidity management, interest rate risk management, and loan and deposit management, and provides practical, relevant examples based on the present interest rate environment and current market conditions.

Who will benefit?
This course is designed for risk professionals who are members of the asset/liability committee (ALCO), particularly Chief Financial Officers, controllers and accounting department staffers, treasury personnel, and loan officers. Also, given the current market conditions, this course is especially valuable for bank board members, most specifically those who sit on ALCO committees.

You will:

• Identify liquidity risk within your balance sheet, and discover the options available to mitigate that risk.
• Explore practical ways of funding your bank in both rising and falling interest rate environments.
• Learn how to manage capital to satisfy both regulators and shareholders.
• Become familiar with ALCO best practices.
• Develop an in-depth understanding of market risk with a major focus on interest rate risk.
• Evaluate various asset and liability management strategies through the interest rate cycle-from theory to practice.
• Identify key determinants of profitability.
• Identify issues of particular concern to lenders, including managing the loan portfolio within the bank's ALCO goals.
• Use the balance sheet management skills learned to exploit opportunities to increase your market share and improve liquidity.
• Explore issues, such as the use of balance sheet leverage and hedging strategies, including swaps.

Course Schedule:
Registration begins on the first day at 7:00 a.m. Continental breakfast is available both days at 7:30 a.m. The event begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 5:00 p.m.

Prerequisites
Participants should have a fundamental understanding of a bank's financial statements.

Course Instructor
Jim Clarke, Ph. D.
Clarke Consulting, Villanova, Pennsylvania

Clarke is a board member and chairs the Asset/Liability Committee [ALCO] of two community banks in the Mid-Atlantic region and is also a board member of an investment company in Connecticut. He also has audit committee experience with both community banks and investment companies. During his career he has served on the board of a number of community banks and in each has been the chair of the ALCO.

Clarke consults in the area of asset/liability management and strategic planning. He currently works with a number of community banks advising their ALCO on a quarterly basis. Clarke conducts quarterly webcasts for RMA on current issues facing bank financial managers and lenders. He also conducts educational programs for national and state associations, including RMA on liquidity risk and asset/ liability management.