Intelligent Credit Scoring. Building and Implementing Better Credit Risk Scorecards

The importance of managing credit and credit risks carefully and appropriately cannot be overestimated. The very success or failure of a bank and the banking industry in general may well depend on how credit risk is handled. Banking professionals must be fully versed in the risks associated with credit operations and how to manage those risks. This up-to-date volume is an invaluable reference and study tool that delves deep into issues associated with credit risk management. Credit Risk Management from the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers (HKIB)discusses the various ways through which banks manage risks. Essential for candidates studying for the HKIB Associateship Examination, it can also help those who want to acquire a deeper understanding of how and why banks make decisions and set up processes that lower their risk. Topics covered in this book include: Active credit portfolio management Risk management, pricing, and capital adequacy Capital requirements for banks Approaches to credit risk management Structural models and probability of default Techniques to determine loss given default Derivatives and structured products

The market for credit derivatives–financial instruments designed to transfer credit risk from one party to another–has grown exponentially in recent years, with volume expected to reach more than $4.8 trillion by 2004. With demand increasing from the private sector for finance professionals trained in the opportunities–and dangers–inherent in this fast-changing market, finance courses are already springing up to meet this need. Credit Derivatives: Explains the field of credit derivatives to business students with a background in finance Cites real-world examples throughout, reinforced by end-of-chapter questions and internet links to pricing models Provides a concise overview of the field that is ideal for instructors seeking to supplement traditional derivatives course material, as well as those looking to offer a stand-alone course on credit derivatives.

A timely guide to understanding and implementing credit derivatives Credit derivatives are here to stay and will continue to play a role in finance in the future. But what will that role be? What issues and challenges should be addressed? And what lessons can be learned from the credit mess? Credit Risk Frontiers offers answers to these and other questions by presenting the latest research in this field and addressing important issues exposed by the financial crisis. It covers this subject from a real world perspective, tackling issues such as liquidity, poor data, and credit spreads, as well as the latest innovations in portfolio products and hedging and risk management techniques. Provides a coherent presentation of recent advances in the theory and practice of credit derivatives Takes into account the new products and risk requirements of a post financial crisis world Contains information regarding various aspects of the credit derivative market as well as cutting edge research regarding those aspects If you want to gain a better understanding of how credit derivatives can help your trading or investing endeavors, then Credit Risk Frontiers is a book you need to read.

Clark and Mingyuan start with an insightful and comprehensive description of how market participants contributed to the current crisis in the residential mortgage markets and the root causes of the crisis. They then proceed to develop a new residential mortgage lending system that can fix our broken markets because it addresses the root causes. The most impressive attributes of their new system is its commonsense return to the basics of traditional underwriting, combined with factors based on expert judgment and statistics and forward-looking attributes, all of which can be updated as markets change. The whole process is transparent to the borrower, lender, and investor. —Dean Schultz, President and CEO, Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco «The credit market crisis of 2008 has deeply affected the economic lives of every American. Yet, its underlying causes and its surface features are so complex that many observers and even policymakers barely understand them. This timely book will help guide nonspecialists through the workings of financial markets, particularly how they value, price, and distribute risk.» —Professor William Greene, Stern School of Business, New York University «This book is a well-timed departure from much of what is being written today regarding the current foreclosure and credit crisis. Rather than attempting to blame lenders, borrowers, and/or federal regulators for the mortgage meltdown and the subsequent impacts on the financial markets, Clark and Mingyuan have proposed a groundbreaking new framework to revolutionize our current lending system. The book is built on the authors' deep understanding of risk and the models used for credit analysis, and reflects their commitment to solve the problem. What I find most profound is their passion to develop a system that will facilitate new and better investment, especially in underserved urban markets that have been disproportionately impacted in the current crisis. I applaud the authors for this important work, and urge practitioners and theorists alike to investigate this new approach.» —John Talmage, President and CEO, Social Compact «In the wake of the credit crisis, it is clear that transparency is the key to not repeating history. In Credit Risk Assessment: The New Lending System for Borrowers, Lenders and Investors, Clark Abrahams and Mingyuan Zhang describe a new lending framework that seeks to connect all the players in the lending chain and provide a more holistic view of customers' risk potential. As the financial services industry recovers from the mortgage meltdown, the Abrahams/Zhang lending model certainly offers some new food for thought to laymen and professionals alike.» —Maria Bruno-Britz, Senior Editor, Bank Systems & Technology magazine

Mary Schaeffer is considered an industry expert and writes a newsletter that focuses on credit, collections, and accounts receivable. * Provides an overview of the credit, collections, and accounts receivable functions for senior level managers. * Provides tips and techniques as well as case studies. * Shows how to stream line the credit process and how to make this area as efficient as possible.

Manage and repair your credit Credit card debt is the third largest source of household indebtedness. Credit Repair Kit For Dummies gives you the tools you need to repair your credit. This new edition covers: major changes with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) inquiry into overdraft practices and their effect on consumers; dealing with the effect of tightened credit markets on those with good, marginal, or bad credit; best ways to recover from mortgage related score hits or minimize damage after walking away from a home; updated Vantage Score information; updated coverage on reporting programs like FICO Score watch, etc.; what makes a good FICO score today; a new section on significant others (boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse) and credit/debt sharing; Debt Relief Act in a mortgage meltdown situation; the latest tips and advice on dealing with identity theft and annoying collection calls; and more. Online you'll find sample credit reports, forms, templates, and other helpful tools to help whip your credit into shape. Updated credit score examples with new ranges New information about IRS exceptions to the Mortgage Forgiveness Advice and tips about adding information to a credit report, and beefing-up thin credit Useful, downloadable, forms and tools on Dummies.com If you have mediocre credit and want or need to better manage it in order to get a job, reduce insurance costs, qualify for banking products, and more, Credit Repair Kit For Dummies has it covered.

The credit crunch is affecting every investor and every consumer, every industry and every government program, yet few people truly understand how it happened. Subprime mortgages have been center stage, but behind the scenes a conspiracy of greed among bankers, investors, rating agencies and regulators has imperiled everyone's financial future. We need to know what went wrong and how to change the practices that led to this calamity. Bloomberg columnist Mark Gilbert shows how Wall Street's tolerance for extremes made the global credit crunch both foreseeable and inevitable. He offers a blow-by-blow account of what went wrong and what lessons need to be learned from the crisis. Gilbert's argument—that everyone with skin in the money game had a vested interest in pretending that nothing could go awry—is a well-defended, compelling indictment of the financial community. Gilbert is able to make complex financial events easy to understand. His outlook is truly global: this financial crisis respects no geographical boundaries, and Gilbert draws on anecdotes and examples from around the world to make his case.

The recent financial crisis has highlighted the need for better valuation models and risk management procedures, better understanding of structured products, and has called into question the actions of many financial institutions. It has become commonplace to blame the inadequacy of credit risk models, claiming that the crisis was due to sophisticated and obscure products being traded, but practitioners have for a long time been aware of the dangers and limitations of credit models. It would seem that a lack of understanding of these models is the root cause of their failures but until now little analysis had been published on the subject and, when published, it had gained very limited attention. Credit Models and the Crisis is a succinct but technical analysis of the key aspects of the credit derivatives modeling problems, tracing the development (and flaws) of new quantitative methods for credit derivatives and CDOs up to and through the credit crisis. Responding to the immediate need for clarity in the market and academic research environments, this book follows the development of credit derivatives and CDOs at a technical level, analyzing the impact, strengths and weaknesses of methods ranging from the introduction of the Gaussian Copula model and the related implied correlations to the introduction of arbitrage-free dynamic loss models capable of calibrating all the tranches for all the maturities at the same time. It also illustrates the implied copula, a method that can consistently account for CDOs with different attachment and detachment points but not for different maturities, and explains why the Gaussian Copula model is still used in its base correlation formulation. The book reports both alarming pre-crisis research and market examples, as well as commentary through history, using data up to the end of 2009, making it an important addition to modern derivatives literature. With banks and regulators struggling to fully analyze at a technical level, many of the flaws in modern financial models, it will be indispensable for quantitative practitioners and academics who want to develop stable and functional models in the future.

User-friendly risk management tools, tips, and techniques for a less certain world Though a very high level of investor uncertainty, anxiety, and concern about risk now exists, the vast majority of investors do not genuinely understand investment risk-let alone how to effectively manage it. The «Risk-Wise» Investor offers a totally new, user-friendly, non-technical way to help you better understand and manage uncertainty and risk. This practical guide will help investors avoid many common pitfalls and make well informed, knowledge-based decisions when facing uncertainty and risk. It also shows how to implement a personalized, systematic risk management planning process that will allow you to manage the risks you face more effectively and improve the likelihood of achieving specific investment goals. Though traditional investment advice is based on taking the long view and diversifying portfolios, the information here shows how to incorporate additional risk management considerations into your plans. It also provides innovative insights that will help investors and their advisors better understand how to Gain a practical, user-friendly, knowledge based understanding of risk and risk management Better understand and manage financial uncertainty and rapid change Release life-risk management skills in the world of investments Become less anxious, more knowledgeable, realistic, and potentially more successful investors Learn a new «empowering» definition of risk to more effectively address risk and uncertainty Help reduce the likelihood and potential impact of negative surprises