This week the FDIC announced a fee proposal for banks to help try to capture and determine risks. The logic is the more increased the risk factors the more chances the institution may fail. With this new proposal, the FDIC will take into consideration a bank’s asset concentrations, credit quality measures and any underperforming assets. In learning from the past leveraging debacle, this would be a much welcome proposal. Asking banks to have more in reserves if they choose to participate in riskier investments makes sense.
Banks have already begun assessing their risks in regards to this subject, and also the theme of security has been at the forefront of bank agendas. Being proactive in the new economy regarding any internal or external risks can only benefit an institution in the long run. With the web being wide open to risk, it is important to evaluate all policies and procedures to have a clear understanding of what each bank considers comfortable risk. For example, there are very real and serious threats to any institutional website including, trojans, worms, phishing and other attacks targeted specifically at the users of these sites. Bank employees need strict corporate policy to adhere to and detailed descriptions of what is proper behavior. It may be a best practice policy to block an employee’s use of any online portal that is a threat to an institution’s security.
