attention to the potential effects of different future scenarios on CRE lending. For example, a community bank that holds commercial loans secured by office properties may consider a higher vacancy rate, as we expect that some tenants may not renew their leases at the same square footage (or at all). Here Are 5 Ways To Make Stress Testing Easier. Some banks treat stress tests as a very big deal, an annual operation that wars with other priorities for employee time and energy. Instead, incorporate stress testing into your quotidian processes by doing the following: 1. Avoid dispersed and siloed systems, data sources, and models. Make it easy for your staff to access all the information they need to test on the transaction level and the portfolio level for both baseline scenarios and severely adverse scenarios. Share data and coordinate processes as what you are: a single business. 2. Create stress tests that align with business objectives. When your bank wants to ask “what if” about any part of your operation, you don’t need to redesign the Parthenon. Ask the question, figure out what you need in order to answer it and move ahead with getting the answer. 3. Don’t involve manually intensive processes to answer your questions. For example, if you have to collate piles of paper (or electronic files) to determine your current debt service or FICO score upon every deal, then your overall business processes need more automation. 4. Execute driver-specific stress tests rather than tests based on standalone macroeconomic indicators. This can help you understand how your Now more than ever, it’s crucial for your management team to have tools on hand that can help you be both proactive and responsive in the face of any other challenges that arise within the industry. strategies may fare under various market scenarios and understand stress thresholds within lines of business. 5. Include stress tests that use the same data and calculation methods as your daily business practices. The more you align stress testing to your firm’s regular work, the more your bank will be able to either change direction if and when the market surprises you or plan for an expected economic change. By making stress testing easier, you make it more likely that your bank will follow through on asking what might happen to various lines of business as the world changes. You can then use that information to make informed decisions to strengthen your community bank’s future, become more resilient, and adapt to market changes much faster. To continue this discussion, or for more information, please contact Jay Kenney at jkenney@pcbb.com. 14
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