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The factors considered in charter application are: a. bank’s future earning prospects; b. general character of management; c. $1 million capital sufficiency; d. convenience and needs of community to be served; financial history and condition of bank; compliance with National Banking Act. Denial of application cannot easily be overturned in courts.
2. Thorough and prudent regulation & capital adequacy ratios
For many years, U.S. prudent supervisory regulations, mostly came out aiming at excessive risk, false pretences and internal dealings in banking. In order to secure banks’ steadiness, many laws and supervisory regulations have been established to restrict banks’ risky actions in providing loans, investment and other deals.
In U.S., the scope covers broadly related to making and implementing prudent policy, including capital adequacy ratio, bad debts reserve, assets concentricity, liquidity, risk management and internal control and so on. A good case in point, capital adequacy ratio standard which is based on risks plays a significant role in U.S. banking supervision. The purpose of making the prudent policy is neither to manage banks from the microcosmic angle, nor to eliminate risks purely, but that to control the risks by banks’ management. As Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991 (FDICIA) requires the FDIC to use the method least costly to the insurance fund when merging insolvent banks into healthy ones.
It allowed the FDIC to borrow directly from the Treasury department and mandated that the FDIC resolve failed banks using the least-costly method available. It also ordered the FDIC to assess insurance premiums according to risk and created new capital requirements. Once supervisory agencies notice capital falls down below the minimum standard, then will examine the bank on a much stricter standard.
3. Effective onsite examination
Bank supervision in the United States exemplifies the formal approach to supervision that requires an active, on-site presence to verify conditions existing within banks. In the U.S. model, periodic onsite examinations have been the cornerstone of the supervisory process. The American approach is justified by the large number of small banks and on unit banking within particular states, both of which result from restrictions on geographic expansion.
Unlike countries where the authorities rely on outside experts, bank supervisors in the United States must themselves possess the skills to evaluate asset quality and other areas of a bank''s activities. A major disadvantage of this approach is that it can be labor intensive and can be inhibited by budgetary constraints. U.S. supervisory agencies have responded to resource constraints in recent years by targeting on-site examinations, making greater use of off-site surveillance and early warning analysis, and taking advantage of advances in computer technology. These steps have permitted the supervisory agencies to hold the number of examining staff relatively constant despite the growth in assets and growing complexity of the financial system.
The more than 14,000 banks supervised by U.S. regulators is a major reason that a formal approach to supervision has been required. It also explains the adoption of the CAMEL rating system and the use of the Uniform Bank Performance Report. The CAMEL rating quantifies a supervised institution''s condition in five critical areas and assigns an overall composite rating. This report compares and ranks each bank against its peers. There are twenty-five peer groups, bringing together institutions with similar characteristics. These reports are publicly available and the computer tapes are made available to stock analysts and others, while the Uniform Bank Performance Report (UBPR) is a statistical analysis of bank performance that is based on data from quarterly prudential reports.
a. Safety/ Soundness CAMELS
Two major focuses of banking supervision and regulation are the safety and soundness of financial institutions and compliance with consumer protection laws. To measure the safety and soundness of a bank, an examiner performs an on-site examination review of the bank''s performance based on its management and financial condition, and its compliance with regulations.
The examiner uses the CAMELS rating system to help measure the safety and soundness of a bank. Each letter stands for one of the six components of a bank’s condition: Capital adequacy, Asset quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to market risk. When performing an examination to determine a bank''s CAMELS rating, instead of reviewing every detail, the examiner evaluates the overall financial health of the bank and the ability of the bank to manage risk. A simple definition of risk is the bank''s ability to collect from borrowers and meet the claims of its depositors. A bank that successfully manages risk has clear and concise written policies. It also has internal controls, such as separation of duties. For example, a bank’s management will assign one person to make loans and another person to collect loan payments.
b. Safety/ Soundness “5-Cs”
A safety and soundness examiner also reviews a bank’s lending activity by rating the quality of a sample of loans made by the bank. When a bank reviews a loan application, it uses the "5-Cs" to assess the quality of the applicant. The 5-Cs stand for: capacity, collateral, condition, capital and character.
1) Capacity. Measures the borrower’s ability to pay, including the borrower’s payment source, such as a job or profits from a business, and amount of income relative to amount of debt.
2) Collateral. What are the bank’s options if the loan is not paid? What asset can be turned over to the bank, what is its market value, and can it be sold easily? Available asset might be a house or a car.
3) Condition. This refers to the borrower’s circumstances. For example, if a furniture storeowner was asking for a loan, the banker would be interested in how many chairs and sofas the store is expected to sell in the area over the next five years.
4) Capital. The applicant’s assets (house/ car/ savings) minus liabilities (home mortgage, credit card balance) represent capital. If liabilities outweigh assets, the borrower might have difficulty repaying a loan if his regular source of income unexpectedly decreases.
5) Character. Measures the borrower’s willingness to pay, including the borrower’s payment history, credit report and information from other lenders.
Every time a bank makes a loan, the bank is at some risk that it will not get paid back. A majority of most banks’ assets are in loans; therefore, a loss of loans could hurt a bank’s financial condition. After an examiner assesses the quality of a loan made by a bank, the loan is assigned one of the following ratings: Pass, Substandard, Doubtful or Loss. Pass, the best rating, is a loan that favorably meets the conditions set out in all of the 5-Cs. Loss, the worst rating, is a loan that has significant concerns relating to the 5-Cs and has a history of late payments. When a loan is classified Loss, the examiner does not expect the bank to get paid back.
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