Camels
Essay by aucxence • October 24, 2016 • Research Paper • 2,262 Words (10 Pages) • 1,194 Views
Summary of Camels
Objectives
- This summary intends to review the key components of CAMELS ratings.
- Understand their meaning and their applications
Introduction
The CAMELS rating is a supervisory rating system originally developed in the U.S. to classify a company's overall condition. It's applied to every bank and company in the U.S. (approximately 8,000 institutions) and is also implemented outside the U.S. by various banking supervisory regulators.
The ratings are assigned based on a ratio analysis made by a designated supervisory regulator. In the U.S. these supervisory regulators include the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Company Administration, the Farm Credit Administration, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Ratings are not released to the public but only to the top management to prevent a possible bank run on an institution which receives a CAMELS rating downgrade.
Elements of the CAMELS rating
CAMELS is a tool for company valuation. The CAMELS rating is based upon 6 components:
Letter | Meaning |
C | Capital adequacy |
A | Asset quality |
M | Management capability |
E | Earning |
L | Liquidity availability |
S | Sensitivity to market risk |
Each of those 6 components is rated from 1 to 5:
Letter | Meaning |
1 | Excellent standard |
2 | Good standard |
3 | Acceptable with areas of concerns |
4 | Preoccupying |
5 | Catastrophic |
Capital adequacy
Explanation of concept
Capital represents the resources provided by owners.
Capital is important for 2 reasons:
- The shared capital gives a little idea of the financial capabilities of a company and provides a guarantee for creditors. (economic reason)
- It provides a justification of ownership (legal reason)
Stakeholders can be ranked as follow (by order of importance):
- State
- Employees
- Clients + Suppliers
- Shareholders
Criterion in assessment of capital adequacy
In the study of capital adequacy, examiners reckon:
- Capital level and trend analysis
- The capital level gives an idea of the financial capabilities of a company whereas the trend of capital will give a basic outline of the capital evolution for many years.
- Compliance with risk-based net worth requirements
- Composition of capital
- Interest and dividends policies and practices
- Choose to place dividends in investment makes capital increase.
- Adequacy of the allowance for loan and lease losses account
- Quality, type, liquidity and diversification of assets
- Loan and investment concentration
- Growth plans
- Those plans have an impact on dividends policies and then on capital when dividends are used for investment.
- Volume and risk characteristics of new business initiatives
- Liquidity and funds management
Rating
Rating | Circumstances | Meaning |
1 | Excellent in every criterion seen above. | The company is "well capitalized" |
2 | Excellent with some Goods | The company is "adequately capitalized" |
3 | Good and acceptable everywhere | The company is "undercapitalized" |
4 | Some preoccupying areas (at least 1) | The company will become “critically undercapitalized” within 12 months. |
5 | Some catastrophic areas (at least 1) | The company is “critically undercapitalized” |
Qualitative analysis
Question | Yes / No | Rating key | Rating |
Does amount of capital meet international requirements? | Yes | A | 1 |
Other questions | … | … | … |
Total |
Quantitative analysis
Capital adequacy | 2010 | 2009 | 2006 | 2007 |
Capital Adequacy Ratio | [pic 1] | |||
Equity to total asset ratio | [pic 2] |
Asset quality
Explanation of concept
Assets play an important role in the profitability of a company. They have a lifetime and they depreciate. So their valuation gives an idea of what the company uses to produce income.
Also, assets must be dispatched into a portfolio. They must be diversified in order to minimize risk. So the repartition of a company’s assets has an impact on asset quality.
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