Only 20 percent of banks surveyed are prepared to meet stress-testing requirements

CHICAGO, Dec. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Only one in five banks are ready to meet mandatory stress-testing requirements, according to a recent survey of 54 financial institutions conducted by Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S. By March 31, 2014, and annually after that, banks with more than $10 billion in assets are required to submit the results of their stress tests, or hypothetical analyses, to federal regulators. Stress tests measure how the banks would perform under a variety of economic scenarios and if they would have sufficient capital to withstand those scenarios. To help banks address these new requirements, Crowe has introduced the Crowe Credit 360 Portfolio Surveyor, a comprehensive stress-testing and credit portfolio management system.

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According to Dave Keever, performance services leader in the financial services group at Crowe, the Crowe Credit 360 Portfolio Surveyor can quickly integrate loan details and credit data from multiple internal systems. "Reports and simulations that might take days or weeks of manual operations can now be accomplished within hours with the Crowe Credit 360 Portfolio Surveyor, so credit and business managers have complete and up-to-date information when performing stress test simulations or making business decisions," he said.

Crowe Credit 360 Portfolio Surveyor allows financial institutions to:

• Capture an accurate, current snapshot of the portfolio;
• Apply complex models for testing credit, capital, liquidity and operating parameters;
• Develop and perform advanced stress tests and analyses that simulate a wide variety of scenarios;
• Provide clear depictions of outcomes and conditions for management and board review;
• Perform detailed analysis by product, portfolio segment, location, organizational unit, customer profile and other criteria; and
• Create and maintain a complete audit trail for regulatory and accounting standards compliance.

Keever noted that the Crowe Credit 360 Portfolio Surveyor rounds out the firm's existing Credit 360 suite of tools, which provide lenders with a single, integrated view of their portfolio trends and overall credit risk. "The addition of the Crowe Credit 360 Portfolio Surveyor makes Credit 360 a comprehensive set of services and solutions that enables banks to manage the risk in their portfolios. It starts with the creation and establishment of the bank's risk appetite and capital plan, steers them through their stress testing execution and continues all the way to the submission of the stress testing results to regulators," said Keever.

For more information on Crowe Credit 360 Portfolio Surveyor and all Credit 360 services, visit: www.crowehorwath.com/surveyor-nr.

About Crowe Horwath
Crowe Horwath LLP (www.crowehorwath.com) is one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the United States. Under its core purpose of "Building Value with Values^®," Crowe uses its deep industry expertise to provide audit services to public and private entities while also helping clients reach their goals with tax, advisory, risk and performance services. Crowe and its subsidiaries have offices coast to coast with more than 3,000 personnel. The firm is recognized by many organizations as one of the country's best places to work. Crowe serves clients worldwide as an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, one of the largest global accounting networks in the world, consisting of more than 150 independent accounting and advisory services firms in more than 100 countries around the world.

SOURCE Crowe Horwath LLP