1. A
TPP Report
Titled
‘Risk Management’
For the traning undergone at
Punjab National Bank, Nonsari
For the fulfilling the requirement of the award of degree of MBA
Under the Supervision of
Mr.Raghubir Singh (Branch Manager)
Submitted to: Submitted by:
Prof. M.K Jain Naveen Khatak
Director 9th
Semester
Roll no. 23
Reg. No. 09-UD-678

2. INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
KURUKSHETRA UNIVERSITY KURUKSHETRA
(September 2013)
DECLARATION
I , NAVEEN KHATAK ,student of Institute of Management Studies ,Kurukshetra University
Kurukshetra, hereby declare that project report entitled „RISK MANAGEMENT‟ is my original
work. This has not been previously submitted for the award of any other diploma, degree or other
similar title.
Signature of candidate

3. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. RAGHUBIR SINGH for providing me the
opportunity to work in their esteemed organization as trainee.
I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to my project guide without his help and
guidance it would not have been possible for me to complete this project as successfully as I did.
Finally, I would like to thanks all others who have contributed to this effort whom I may have
missed out.
NAVEEN KHATAK
Roll no. 23
9thsem. MBA 5 year
Kurukshetra University
Kurukshetra.

4. CONTENTS
Chapter No. Title of chapter Page no.
1. Introduction
(A)Banking sector in India
(B)Players in the sector
2. Punjab National Bank
(A)Introduction
(B)Vision and Mission
(C)Organizational structure
(D)Product and services
3. Risk Manangement in Punjab National Bank
(A)In General
(B)In pnb
(C)BASEL
4 SWOT analysis, Suggestions and Conclusion
(A)SWOT analysis
(B)Suggestions
(C)Conclusion

5. Banking Sector in India
Currently, India has 96 scheduled commercial banks(SCBs) - 27 public sector banks (that is with
the Government of India holding a stake), 31 private banks (these do not have government stake;
they may be publicly listed and traded on stock exchanges) and 38 foreign banks. They have a
combined network of over 53,000 branches and 49,000 ATMs. According to a report by ICRA
(Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited) a rating agency, the
public sector banks hold over 75 percent of total assets of the banking industry, with the private
and foreign banks holding 18.2% and 6.5% respectively.
Banking in India originated in the last decades of the 18th century. The first banks were The
General Bank of India which started in 1786, and the Bank of Hindustan, both of which are
now defunct. The oldest bank in existence in India is the State Bank of India, which originated in
the Bank of Calcutta in June 1806, which almost immediately became the Bank of Bengal. This
was one of the three presidency banks, the other two being the Bank of Bombay and the Bank of
Madras, all three of which were established under charters from the British East India Company.
For many years the Presidency banks acted as quasi-central banks, as did their successors. The
three banks merged in 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India, which, upon India's
independence, became the State Bank of India.
Indian merchants in Calcutta established the Union Bank in 1839, but it failed in 1848 as a
consequence of the economic crisis of 1848-49. The Allahabad Bank, established in 1865 and
still functioning today, is the oldest Joint Stock bank in India.(Joint Stock Bank: A company
that issues stock and requires shareholders to be held liable for the company's debt) It was not the
first though. That honor belongs to the Bank of Upper India, which was established in 1863, and
which survived until 1913, when it failed, with some of its assets and liabilities being transferred
to the Alliance Bank of Simla. When the American Civil War stopped the supply of cotton to
Lancashire from the Confederate States, promoters opened banks to finance trading in Indian
cotton. With large exposure to speculative ventures, most of the banks opened in India during
that period failed. The depositors lost money and lost interest in keeping deposits with banks.
Subsequently, banking in India remained the exclusive domain of Europeans for next several
decades until the beginning of the 20th century.Foreign banks too started to arrive, particularly in
Calcutta, in the 1860s. The Comptoire d'Escompte de Paris opened a branch in Calcutta in 1860,

6. and another in Bombay in 1862; branches in Madras and Pondicherry, then a French colony,
followed. HSBC established itself in Bengal in 1869. Calcutta was the most active trading port in
India, mainly due to the trade of the British Empire, and so became a banking center.

7. PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK
Punjab National Bank (PNB) (BSE: 532461), is a state-owned financial services company
located in New Delhi, India. It was registered on May 19, 1894 under the Indian Companies Act
with its office in Anarkali Bazaar Lahore. Today, the Bank is the second largest government-
owned commercial bank in India with about 5000 branches across 764 cities. It serves over 37
million customers. The bank has been ranked 248th biggest bank in the world by the Bankers
Almanac, London. The bank's total assets for financial year 2007 were about US$60 billion. PNB
has a banking subsidiary in the UK, as well as branches in Hong Kong, Dubai and Kabul, and
representative offices in Amati, Dubai, Oslo, and Shanghai.
Punjab National Bank is one of the Big Four Banks of
India, along with ICICI Bank, State Bank of India
and Canara Bank.
Vision :
To be a Leading Global Bank with Pan India footprints and become a household brand in the
Indo-Gangetic Plains providing entire range of financial products and services under one roof
Mission:
Banking for the unbanked

8. Organisational structur
Board of Directors:
1. Shri K.R.Kamath
chairman & managing director
And chairman of Indian bank‟s association
2. Shri Rakesh Sethi
Executive Director
3. Smt. Usha Ananthasubramanian
Executive Director
4. Shri. S R Bansal
Executive Director
Directors:
1. Shri. Anurag jain
Govt. of India Nominee Director
2. Shri. B P Kanungo
Reserve bank Of India Nominee Director
3. Shri. M A Antulay
Part time non official Director
4. Shri. B B Chaudhry
Part-time non-offical director
5. Shri. Devinder kumar Singla
Shareholder Director
Product and services:
Foreign Currency Non-resident Deposit A/c Scheme (FD)
Non-resident External Deposit A/c Scheme (SB/CA/FD)
Non-resident Ordinary Deposit A/c Scheme (SB/CA/FD/RD)
Foreign Inward Remittances – Rupee Drawing Arrangements / Speed Remittances with
Exchange Houses
Money Transfer Schemes

9. PNB-NRI REMIT Scheme
Exchange of Foreign Currency Travellers Cheques/Notes
World Travel Card
Buyers‟ / Suppliers‟ Credit against Imports into India
Letter of Guarantee (issued on behalf of foreign bank)
Precious Metal Business (on consignment basis)
Gold (Metal) Loan Scheme for Domestic Jewellery Manufacturers.
ECGC – Bank assurance - Selling of policies to exporters
History of Punjab National Bank
1895: PNB commenced its operations in Lahore. PNB has the distinction of being the
first Indian bank to have been started solely with Indian capital that has survived to the
present. (The first entirely Indian bank, the Oudh Commercial Bank, was established in
1881 in Faizabad, but failed in 1958.) PNB's founders included several leaders of the
Swadeshi movement such as Dayal Singh Majithia and Lala HarKishan Lal, Lala
Lalchand, Shri Kali Prasanna Roy, Shri E.C. Jessawala, Shri Prabhu Dayal, Bakshi Jaishi
Ram, and Lala Dholan Das. Lala Lajpat Rai was actively associated with the
management of the Bank in its early years.
1904: PNB established branches in Karachi and Peshawar.
1940: PNB absorbed Bhagwan Das Bank, a scheduled bank located in Delhi circle.

10. 1947: Partition of India and Pakistan at Independence. PNB lost its premises in Lahore,
but continued to operate in Pakistan.
1951: PNB acquired the 39 branches of Bharat Bank (est. 1942); Bharat Bank became
Bharat Nidhi Ltd.
1961: PNB acquired Universal Bank of India.
1963: The Government of Burma nationalized PNB's branch in Rangoon (Yangon).
1965: After the Indo-Pak war the government of Pakistan seized all the offices in
Pakistan of Indian banks, including PNB's head office, which may have moved to
Karachi. PNB also had one or more branches in East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
1960: PNB amalgamated Indo Commercial Bank (est. 1933) in a rescue.
1969: The Government of India (GOI) nationalized PNB and 13 other major commercial
banks, on July 19, 1969.
1976: PNB opened a branch in London.
1986: The Reserve Bank of India inquired PNB to transfer its London branch to State
Bank of India after the branch was involved in a fraud scandal.
1986: PNB acquired Hindustan Commercial Bank (est. 1943) in a rescue. The acquisition
added Hindustan's 142 branches to PNB's network.
1993: PNB acquired New Bank of India, which the GOI had nationalized in 1980.
1998: PNB set up a representative office in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

11. 2003: PNB took over Nedungadi Bank, the oldest private sector bank in Kerala. At the
time of the merger with PNB, Nedungadi Bank's shares had zero value, with the result
that its shareholders received no payment for their shares.
PNB also opened a representative office in London.
2004: PNB established a branch in Kabul, Afghanistan.
PNB also opened a representative office in Shanghai.
PNB established an alliance with Everest Bank in Nepal that permits migrants to transfer
funds easily between India and Everest Bank's 12 branches in Nepal.
2005: PNB opened a representative office in Dubai.
2007: PNB established PNBIL - Punjab National Bank (International) - in the UK, with
two offices, one in London, and one in South Hall. Since then it has opened a third
branch in Leicester, and is planning a fourth in Birmingham.
2008: PNB opened a branch in Hong Kong.
2009: PNB opened a representative office in Oslo, Norway, and a second branch in Hong
Kong, this in Kowloon.
2010: PNB received permission to upgrade its representative office in the Dubai
International Financial Centre to a branch.

12. DEFINITION OF RISK
 What is Risk?
"What is risk?" And what is a pragmatic definition of risk? Risk means different things to
different people. For some it is "financial (exchange rate, interest-call money rates), mergers of
competitors globally to form more powerful entities and not leveraging IT optimally" and for
someone else "an event or commitment which has the potential to generate commercial liability
or damage to the brand image". Since risk is accepted in business as a trade off between reward
and threat, it does mean that taking risk bring forth benefits as well. In other words it is necessary
to accept risks, if the desire is to reap the anticipated benefits.
Risk in its pragmatic definition, therefore, includes both threats that can materialize and
opportunities, which can be exploited. This definition of risk is very pertinent today as the
current business environment offers both challenges and opportunities to organizations, and it is
up to an organization to manage these to their competitive advantage.
 What is Risk Management - Does it eliminate risk?
Risk management is a discipline for dealing with the possibility that some future event
will cause harm. It provides strategies, techniques, and an approach to recognizing and
confronting any threat faced by an organization in fulfilling its mission. Risk management may
be as uncomplicated as asking and answering three basic questions:
1. What can go wrong?
2. What will we do (both to prevent the harm from occurring and in the aftermath of an
"incident")?
3. If something happens, how will we pay for it?
Risk management does not aim at risk elimination, but enables the organization to bring
their risks to manageable proportions while not severely affecting their income. This balancing
act between the risk levels and profits needs to be well-planned. Apart from bringing the risks to
manageable proportions, they should also ensure that one risk does not get transformed into any

13. other undesirable risk. This transformation takes place due to the inter-linkage present among the
various risks. The focal point in managing any risk will be to understand the nature of the
transaction in a way to unbundle the risks it is exposed to.
Risk Management is a more mature subject in the western world. This is largely a result
of lessons from major corporate failures, most telling and visible being the Barings collapse. In
addition, regulatory requirements have been introduced, which expect organizations to have
effective risk management practices. In India, whilst risk management is still in its infancy, there
has been considerable debate on the need to introduce comprehensive risk management
practices.
 Objectives of Risk Management Function
Two distinct viewpoints emerge –
One which is about managing risks, maximizing profitability and creating opportunity
out of risks
And the other which is about minimising risks/loss and protecting corporate assets.
The management of an organization needs to consciously decide on whether they want
their risk management function to 'manage' or 'mitigate' Risks.
Managing risks essentially is about striking the right balance between risks and controls
and taking informed management decisions on opportunities and threats facing an
organization. Both situations, i.e. over or under controlling risks are highly undesirable as
the former means higher costs and the latter means possible exposure to risk.
Mitigating or minimising risks, on the other hand, means mitigating all risks even if the
cost of minimising a risk may be excessive and outweighs the cost-benefit analysis.
Further, it may mean that the opportunities are not adequately exploited.
In the context of the risk management function, identification and management of Risk is
more prominent for the financial services sector and less so for consumer products industry.
What are the primary objectives of your risk management function? When specifically asked in a
survey conducted, 33% of respondents stated that their risk management function is indeed
expressly mandated to optimise risk.

14.  Risks in Banking
Risks manifest themselves in many ways and the risks in banking are a result of many
diverse activities, executed from many locations and by numerous people. As a financial
intermediary, banks borrow funds and lend them as a part of their primary activity. This
intermediation activity, of banks exposes them to a host of risks. The volatility in the operating
environment of banks will aggravate the effect of the various risks. The case discusses the
various risks that arise due to financial intermediation and by highlighting the need for asset-
liability management; it discusses the Gap Model for risk management.
Basel I Accord: The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which came into existence in
1974, volunteered to develop a framework for sound banking practices internationally. In 1988
the full set of recommendations was documented and given to the Central banks of the countries
for implementation to suit their national systems. This is called the Basel Capital Accord or Basel
I Accord. It provided level playing field by stipulating the amount of capital that needs to be
maintained by internationally active banks.
Basel II Accord: Banking has changed dramatically since the Basel I document of 1988.
Advances in risk management and the increasing complexity of financial activities / instruments
(like options, hybrid securities etc.) prompted international supervisors to review the
appropriateness of regulatory capital standards under Basel I. To meet this requirement, the Basel
I accord was amended and refined, which came out as the Basel II accord.
The new proposal is based on three mutually reinforcing pillars that allow banks and supervisors
to evaluate properly the various risks that banks have to face and realign regulatory capital more
closely with underlying risks. Each of these three pillars has risk mitigation as its central board.
The new risk sensitive approach seeks to strengthen the safety and soundness of the industry by
focusing on:

15. ● Risk based capital (Pillar 1)
● Risk based supervision (Pillar 2)
● Risk disclosure to enforce market discipline (Pillar 3)
BASEL II FRAMEWORK
The new proposal is based on three mutually reinforcing pillars that allow banks and
supervisors to evaluate properly the various risks that banks face and realign regulatory
capital more closely with underlying risks.
Basel II
Framework
Pillar I Pillar II Pillar III
Minimum Capital Supervisory Market
Requirements Review Process Discipline
THE FIRST PILLAR – MINIMUM CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS
The first pillar sets out minimum capital requirement for the bank. The new framework maintains
minimum capital requirement of 8% of risk assets.
Basel II focuses on improvement in measurement of risks. The revised credit risk measurement
methods are more elaborate than the current accord. It proposes for the first time, a measure for
operational risk, while the market risk measure remains unchanged.

16. THE SECOND PILLAR - SUPERVISORY REVIEW PROCESS
Supervisory review process has been introduced to ensure not only that bank have adequate
capital to support all the risks, but also to encourage them to develop and use better risk
management techniques in monitoring and managing their risks. The process has four key
principles-
a) Banks should have a process for assessing their overall capital adequacy in relation to their
risk profile and a strategy for monitoring their capital levels.
b) Supervisors should review and evaluate bank‟s internal capital adequacy assessment and
strategies, as well as their ability to monitor and ensure their compliance with regulatory capital
ratios.
c) Supervisors should expect banks to operate above the minimum regulatory capital ratios and
should have the ability to require banks to hold capital in excess of the minimum.
d) Supervisors should seek to intervene at an early stage to prevent capital from decreasing
below minimum level and should require rapid remedial action if capital is not mentioned or
restored.
THE THIRD PILLAR – MARKET DISCIPLINE
Market discipline imposes strong incentives to banks to conduct their business in a safe, sound
and effective manner. It is proposed to be effected through a series of disclosure requirements on
capital, risk exposure etc. so that market participants can assess a bank‟s capital adequacy. These
disclosures should be made at least semi-annually and more frequently if appropriate. Qualitative
disclosures such as risk management objectives and policies, definitions etc. may be published
annually.

17.  Typology of Risk Exposure
Based on the origin and their nature, risks are classified into various categories. The most
prominent financial risks to which the banks are exposed to taking into consideration practical
issues including the limitations of models and theories, human factor, existence of frictions such
as taxes and transaction cost and limitations on quality and quantity of information, as well as the
cost of acquiring this information, and more.

18. FINANCIAL RISKS
MARKET
RISK
LIQUIDITY
RISK
OPERATIONAL
RISK
HUMAN
FACTOR RISK
CREDIT RISK LEGAL &
REGULATORY RISK
FUNDING
LIQUIDITY RISK
TRADING
LIQUIDITY RISK
TRANSACTION
RISK
PORTFOLIO
CONCENTRATION
ISSUE RISK ISSUER RISK COUNTERPARTY
RISK
EQUITY RISK INEREST
RATE RISK
CURRENCY
RISK
COMMODITY
RISK
TRADING
RISK
GAP RISK
GENERAL
MARKET RISK
SPECIFIC
RISK

19. 1. MARKET RISK
Market risk is that risk that changes in financial market prices and rates will reduce the
value of the bank‟s positions. Market risk for a fund is often measured relative to a benchmark
index or portfolio, is referred to as a “risk of tracking error” market risk also includes “basis
risk,” a term used in risk management industry to describe the chance of a breakdown in the
relationship between price of a product, on the one hand, and the price of the instrument used to
hedge that price exposure on the other. The market-Var methodology attempts to capture
multiple component of market such as directional risk, convexity risk, volatility risk, basis risk,
etc.
2. CREDIT RISK
Credit risk is that risk that a change in the credit quality of a counterparty will affect the
value of a bank‟s position. Default, whereby a counterparty is unwilling or unable to fulfill its
contractual obligations, is the extreme case; however banks are also exposed to the risk that the
counterparty might downgraded by a rating agency.
Credit risk is only an issue when the position is an asset, i.e., when it exhibits a positive
replacement value. In that instance if the counterparty defaults, the bank either loses all of the
market value of the position or, more commonly, the part of the value that it cannot recover
following the credit event. However, the credit exposure induced by the replacement values of
derivative instruments are dynamic: they can be negative at one point of time, and yet become
positive at a later point in time after market conditions have changed. Therefore the banks must
examine not only the current exposure, measured by the current replacement value, but also the
profile of future exposures up to the termination of the deal.
3. LIQUIDITY RISK
Liquidity risk comprises both
Funding liquidity risk
Trading-related liquidity risk.
Funding liquidity risk relates to a financial institution‟s ability to raise the necessary cash
to roll over its debt, to meet the cash, margin, and collateral requirements of counterparties, and
(in the case of funds) to satisfy capital withdrawals. Funding liquidity risk is affected by various

20. factors such as the maturities of the liabilities, the extent of reliance of secured sources of
funding, the terms of financing, and the breadth of funding sources, including the ability to
access public market such as commercial paper market. Funding can also be achieved through
cash or cash equivalents, “buying power ,” and available credit lines.
Trading-related liquidity risk, often simply called as liquidity risk, is the risk that an
institution will not be able to execute a transaction at the prevailing market price because there
is, temporarily, no appetite for the deal on the other side of the market. If the transaction cannot
be postponed its execution my lead to substantial losses on position. This risk is generally very
hard to quantify. It may reduce an institution‟s ability to manage and hedge market risk as well as
its capacity to satisfy any shortfall on the funding side through asset liquidation.
4. OPERATIONAL RISK
It refers to potential losses resulting from inadequate systems, management failure, faulty
control, fraud and human error. Many of the recent large losses related to derivatives are the
direct consequences of operational failure. Derivative trading is more prone to operational risk
than cash transactions because derivatives are, by heir nature, leveraged transactions. This means
that a trader can make very large commitment on behalf of the bank, and generate huge exposure
in to the future, using only small amount of cash. Very tight controls are an absolute necessary if
the bank is to avoid huge losses.
Operational risk includes” fraud,” for example when a trader or other employee
intentionally falsifies and misrepresents the risk incurred in a transaction. Technology risk, and
principally computer system risk also fall into the operational risk category.
5. LEGAL RISK
Legal risk arises for a whole of variety of reasons. For example, counterparty might lack
the legal or regulatory authority to engage in a transaction. Legal risks usually only become
apparent when counterparty, or an investor, lose money on a transaction and decided to sue the
bank to avoid meeting its obligations. Another aspect of regulatory risk is the potential impact of
a change in tax law on the market value of a position.

21. 6. HUMAN FACTOR RISK
Human factor risk is really a special form of operational risk. It relates to the losses that
may result from human errors such as pushing the wrong button on a computer, inadvertently
destroying files, or entering wrong value for the parameter input of a model.

22. MARKET RISK
 What is Market Risk?
Market Risk may be defined as the possibility of loss to a bank caused by changes in the
market variables. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) defines market risk as “the risk
that the value of 'on' or 'off' balance sheet positions will be adversely affected by movements in
equity and interest rate markets, currency exchange rates and commodity prices". Thus, Market
Risk is the risk to the bank's earnings and capital due to changes in the market level of interest
rates or prices of securities, foreign exchange and equities, as well as the volatilities of those
changes. Besides, it is equally concerned about the bank's ability to meet its obligations as and
when they fall due. In other words, it should be ensured that the bank is not exposed to Liquidity
Risk. Thus, focus on the management of Liquidity Risk and Market Risk, further categorized
into interest rate risk, foreign exchange risk, commodity price risk and equity price risk. An
effective market risk management framework in a bank comprises risk identification, setting up
of limits and triggers, risk monitoring, models of analysis that value positions or measure market
risk, risk reporting, etc.
 Types of market risk
Interest rate risk:
Interest rate risk is the risk where changes in market interest rates might adversely affect
a bank's financial condition. The immediate impact of changes in interest rates is on the Net
Interest Income (NII). A long term impact of changing interest rates is on the bank's networth
since the economic value of a bank's assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet positions get
affected due to variation in market interest rates. The interest rate risk when viewed from these
two perspectives is known as 'earnings perspective' and 'economic value' perspective,
respectively.
Management of interest rate risk aims at capturing the risks arising from the maturity and
repricing mismatches and is measured both from the earnings and economic value perspective.

23. Earnings perspective involves analyzing the impact of changes in interest rates
on accrual or reported earnings in the near term. This is measured by measuring the
changes in the Net Interest Income (NII) or Net Interest Margin (NIM) i.e. the difference
between the total interest income and the total interest +expense.
Economic Value perspective involves analyzing the changes of impact on
interest on the expected cash flows on assets minus the expected cash flows on liabilities
plus the net cash flows on off-balance sheet items. It focuses on the risk to networth
arising from all repricing mismatches and other interest rate sensitive positions. The
economic value perspective identifies risk arising from long-term interest rate gaps.
The management of Interest Rate Risk should be one of the critical components of market
risk management in banks. The regulatory restrictions in the past had greatly reduced many of
the risks in the banking system. Deregulation of interest rates has, however, exposed them to the
adverse impacts of interest rate risk. The Net Interest Income (NII) or Net Interest Margin (NIM)
of banks is dependent on the movements of interest rates. Any mismatches in the cash flows
(fixed assets or liabilities) or repricing dates (floating assets or liabilities), expose bank's NII or
NIM to variations. The earning of assets and the cost of liabilities are now closely related to
market interest rate volatility
Generally, the approach towards measurement and hedging of IRR varies with the
segmentation of the balance sheet. In a well functioning risk management system, banks broadly
position their balance sheet into Trading and Banking Books. While the assets in the trading
book are held primarily for generating profit on short-term differences in prices/yields, the
banking book comprises assets and liabilities, which are contracted basically on account of
relationship or for steady income and statutory obligations and are generally held till maturity.
Thus, while the price risk is the prime concern of banks in trading book, the earnings or
economic value changes are the main focus of banking book.
Equity price risk:
The price risk associated with equities also has two components” General market risk”
refers to the sensitivity of an instrument / portfolio value to the change in the level of broad stock

24. market indices.” Specific / Idiosyncratic” risk refers to that portion of the stock‟s price volatility
that is determined by characteristics specific to the firm, such as its line of business, the quality
of its management, or a breakdown in its production process. The general market risk cannot be
eliminated through portfolio diversification while specific risk can be diversified away.
Foreign exchange risk:
Foreign Exchange Risk maybe defined as the risk that a bank may suffer losses as a result
of adverse exchange rate movements during a period in which it has an open position, either spot
or forward, or a combination of the two, in an individual foreign currency. The banks are also
exposed to interest rate risk, which arises from the maturity mismatching of foreign currency
positions. Even in cases where spot and forward positions in individual currencies are balanced,
the maturity pattern of forward transactions may produce mismatches. As a result, banks may
suffer losses as a result of changes in premia/discounts of the currencies concerned.
In the forex business, banks also face the risk of default of the counterparties or
settlement risk. While such type of risk crystallization does not cause principal loss, banks may
have to undertake fresh transactions in the cash/spot market for replacing the failed transactions.
Thus, banks may incur replacement cost, which depends upon the currency rate movements.
Banks also face another risk called time-zone risk or Herstatt risk which arises out of time-lags in
settlement of one currency in one center and the settlement of another currency in another time-
zone. The forex transactions with counterparties from another country also trigger sovereign or
country risk (dealt with in details in the guidance note on credit risk).
The three important issues that need to be addressed in this regard are:
1. Nature and magnitude of exchange risk
2. Exchange managing or hedging for adopted be to strategy>
3. The tools of managing exchange risk
Commodity price risk:
The price of the commodities differs considerably from its interest rate risk and foreign
exchange risk, since most commodities are traded in the market in which the concentration of

25. supply can magnify price volatility. Moreover, fluctuations in the depth of trading in the market
(i.e., market liquidity) often accompany and exacerbate high levels of price volatility. Therefore,
commodity prices generally have higher volatilities and larger price discontinuities.
 Treatment of Market Risk in the Proposed Basel Capital Accord
The Basle Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) had issued comprehensive
guidelines to provide an explicit capital cushion for the price risks to which banks are exposed,
particularly those arising from their trading activities. The banks have been given flexibility to
use in-house models based on VaR for measuring market risk as an alternative to a standardized
measurement framework suggested by Basle Committee. The internal models should, however,
comply with quantitative and qualitative criteria prescribed by Basle Committee.
Reserve Bank of India has accepted the general framework suggested by the Basle
Committee. RBI has also initiated various steps in moving towards prescribing capital for market
risk. As an initial step, a risk weight of 2.5% has been prescribed for investments in Government
and other approved securities, besides a risk weight each of 100% on the open position limits in
forex and gold. RBI has also prescribed detailed operating guidelines for Asset-Liability
Management System in banks. As the ability of banks to identify and measure market risk
improves, it would be necessary to assign explicit capital charge for market risk. While the small
banks operating predominantly in India could adopt the standardized methodology, large banks
and those banks operating in international markets should develop expertise in evolving internal
models for measurement of market risk.
The Basle Committee on Banking Supervision proposes to develop capital charge for
interest rate risk in the banking book as well for banks where the interest rate risks are
significantly above average ('outliers'). The Committee is now exploring various methodologies
for identifying 'outliers' and how best to apply and calibrate a capital charge for interest rate risk
for banks. Once the Committee finalizes the modalities, it may be necessary, at least for banks
operating in the international markets to comply with the explicit capital charge requirements for

26. interest rate risk in the banking book. As the valuation norms on banks' investment portfolio
have already been put in place and aligned with the international best practices, it is appropriate
to adopt the Basel norms on capital for market risk. In view of this, banks should study the Basel
framework on capital for market risk as envisaged in Amendment to the Capital Accord to
incorporate market risks published in January 1996 by BCBS and prepare themselves to follow
the international practices in this regard at a suitable date to be announced by RBI.
 The Proposed New Capital Adequacy Framework
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has released a Second Consultative
Document, which contains refined proposals for the three pillars of the New Accord - Minimum
Capital Requirements, Supervisory Review and Market Discipline. It may be recalled that the
Basel Committee had released in June 1999 the first Consultative Paper on a New Capital
Adequacy Framework for comments. However, the proposal to provide explicit capital charge
for market risk in the banking book which was included in the Pillar I of the June 1999
Document has been shifted to Pillar II in the second Consultative Paper issued in January 2001.
The Committee has also provided a technical paper on evaluation of interest rate risk
management techniques. The Document has defined the criteria for identifying outlier banks.
According to the proposal, a bank may be defined as an outlier whose economic value declined
by more than 20% of the sum of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital as a result of a standardized interest
rate shock (200 bps.)
The second Consultative Paper on the New Capital Adequacy framework issued in
January, 2001 has laid down 13 principles intended to be of general application for the
management of interest rate risk, independent of whether the positions are part of the trading
book or reflect banks' non-trading activities. They refer to an interest rate risk management
process, which includes the development of a business strategy, the assumption of assets and

27. liabilities in banking and trading activities, as well as a system of internal controls. In particular,
they address the need for effective interest rate risk measurement, monitoring and control
functions within the interest rate risk management process. The principles are intended to be of
general application, based as they are on practices currently used by many international banks,
even though their specific application will depend to some extent on the complexity and range of
activities undertaken by individual banks. Under the New Basel Capital Accord, they form
minimum standards expected of internationally active banks. The principles are given in
Annexure II.
CREDIT RISK
 What is Credit Risk?
Credit risk is defined as the possibility of losses associated with diminution in the credit
quality of borrowers or counterparties. In a bank's portfolio, losses stem from outright default
due to inability or unwillingness of a customer or counterparty to meet commitments in relation
to lending, trading, settlement and other financial transactions. Alternatively, losses result from
reduction in portfolio value arising from actual or perceived deterioration in credit quality. Credit
risk emanates from a bank's dealings with an individual, corporate, bank, financial institution or
a sovereign. Credit risk may take the following forms
In the case of direct lending: principal/and or interest amount may not be repaid;
In the case of guarantees or letters of credit: funds may not be forthcoming from the
constituents upon crystallization of the liability;
In the case of treasury operations: the payment or series of payments due from the
counter parties under the respective contracts may not be forthcoming or ceases;
In the case of securities trading businesses: funds/ securities settlement may not be
effected;
In the case of cross-border exposure: the availability and free transfer of foreign currency
funds may either cease or the sovereign may impose restrictions.

28.  Types of Credit Rating
Credit rating can be classified as:
2. External credit rating.
3. Internal credit rating
External credit rating:
A credit rating is not, in general, an investment recommendation concerning a given
security. In the words of S&P,” A credit rating is S&P's opinion of the general creditworthiness
of an obligor, or the creditworthiness of an obligor with respect to a particular debt security or
other financial obligation, based on relevant risk factors.” In Moody's words, a rating is, “ an
opinion on the future ability and legal obligation of an issuer to make timely payments of
principal and interest on a specific fixed-income security.”
Since S&P and Moody's are considered to have expertise in credit rating and are regarded
as unbiased evaluators, there ratings are widely accepted by market participants and regulatory
agencies. Financial institutions, when required to hold investment grade bonds by their regulators
use the rating of credit agencies such as S&P and Moody's to determine which bonds are of
investment grade.
The subject of credit rating might be a company issuing debt obligations. In the case of
such “issuer credit ratings” the rating is an opinion on the obligor‟s overall capacity to meet its
financial obligations. The opinion is not specific to any particular liability of the company, nor
does it consider merits of having guarantors for some of the obligations. In the issuer credit
rating categories are
a) Counterparty ratings
b) Corporate credit ratings
c) Sovereign credit ratings
The rating process includes quantitative, qualitative, and legal analyses. The quantitative
analyses. The quantitative analysis is mainly financial analysis and is based on the firm‟s
financial reports. The qualitative analysis is concerned with the quality of management, and

29. includes a through review of the firm‟s competitiveness within its industry as well as the
expected growth of the industry and its vulnerability to technological changes, regulatory
changes, and labor relations.
Internal credit rating:
A typical risk rating system (RRS) will assign both an obligor rating to each borrower (or
group of borrowers), and a facility rating to each available facility. A risk rating (RR) is designed
to depict the risk of loss in a credit facility. A robust RRS should offer a carefully designed,
structured, and documented series of steps for the assessment of each rating.
The following are the steps for assessment of rating:
a) Objectivity and Methodology:
The goal is to generate accurate and consistent risk rating, yet also to allow professional
judgment to significantly influence a rating where it is appropriate. The expected loss is the
product of an exposure (say, Rs. 100) and the probability of default (say, 2%) of an obligor (or
borrower) and the loss rate given default (say, 50%) in any specific credit facility. In this
example,
The expected loss = 100*.02*.50 = Rs. 1
A typical risk rating methodology (RRM)
a. Initial assign an obligor rating that identifies the expected probability of default by
that borrower (or group) in repaying its obligations in normal course of business.
b. The RRS then identifies the risk loss (principle/interest) by assigning an RR to each
individual credit facility granted to an obligor.
The obligor rating represents the probability of default by a borrower in repaying its
obligation in the normal course of business. The facility rating represents the expected loss of
principal and/ or interest on any business credit facility. It combines the likelihood of default by
a borrower and conditional severity of loss, should default occur, from the credit facilities
available to the borrower.

30. Risk Rating Continuum (Prototype Risk Rating System)
RISK RR Corresponding Probable
S&P or Moody's Rating
Sovereign 0 Not Applicable
Low 1 AAA
2 AA Investment Grade
3 A
4 BBB+/BBB
Average 5 BBB-
6 BB+/BB
7 BB-
High 8
9
10
B+/B
B-
CCC+/CCC
Below Investment
Grade
11 CC-
12 In Default
The steps in the RRS (nine, in our prototype system) typically start with a financial
assessment of the borrower (initial obligor rating), which sets a floor on the obligor rating (OR).
A series of further steps (four) arrive at the final obligor rating. Each one of steps 2 to 5 may
result in the downgrade of the initial rating attributed at step 1. These steps include analyzing the
managerial capability of the borrower (step 2), examining the borrower‟s absolute and relative
position within the industry (step 3), reviewing the quality of the financial information (step 4)
and the country risk (step 5). The process ensures that all credits are objectively rated using a
consistent process to arrive at the accurate rating.
Additional steps (four, in our example) are associated with arriving at a final facility rating,
which may be above OR below the final obligor rating. These steps include examining third-

31. party support (step 6), factoring in the maturity of the transaction (step 7), reviewing how
strongly the transaction is structured. (step 8), and assessing the amount of collateral (step 9).
b) Measurement of Default Probability and Recovery Rates.
 Credit Risk Management
In this backdrop, it is imperative that banks have a robust credit risk management system
which is sensitive and responsive to these factors. The effective management of credit risk is a
critical component of comprehensive risk management and is essential for the long term success
of any banking organization. Credit risk management encompasses identification, measurement,
monitoring and control of the credit risk exposures.
Building Blocks of Credit Risk Management:
In a bank, an effective credit risk management framework would comprise of the
following distinct building blocks:
Policy and Strategy
Organizational Structure
Operations/ Systems
 Policy and Strategy
The Board of Directors of each bank shall be responsible for approving and periodically
reviewing the credit risk strategy and significant credit risk policies.
Credit Risk Policy
1. Every bank should have a credit risk policy document approved by the Board. The
document should include risk identification, risk measurement, risk grading/ aggregation
techniques, reporting and risk control/ mitigation techniques, documentation, legal issues
and management of problem loans.
2. Credit risk policies should also define target markets, risk acceptance criteria, credit
approval authority, credit origination/ maintenance procedures and guidelines for
portfolio management.
3. The credit risk policies approved by the Board should be communicated to
branches/controlling offices. All dealing officials should clearly understand the bank's

32. approach for credit sanction and should be held accountable for complying with
established policies and procedures.
4. Senior management of a bank shall be responsible for implementing the credit risk policy
approved by the Board.
Credit Risk Strategy
1. Each bank should develop, with the approval of its Board, its own credit risk strategy or
plan that establishes the objectives guiding the bank's credit-granting activities and adopt
necessary policies/ procedures for conducting such activities. This strategy should spell
out clearly the organization‟s credit appetite and the acceptable level of risk-reward trade-
off for its activities.
2. The strategy would, therefore, include a statement of the bank's willingness to grant loans
based on the type of economic activity, geographical location, currency, market, maturity
and anticipated profitability. This would necessarily translate into the identification of
target markets and business sectors, preferred levels of diversification and concentration,
the cost of capital in granting credit and the cost of bad debts.
3. The credit risk strategy should provide continuity in approach as also take into account
the cyclical aspects of the economy and the resulting shifts in the composition/ quality of
the overall credit portfolio. This strategy should be viable in the long run and through
various credit cycles.
4. Senior management of a bank shall be responsible for implementing the credit risk
strategy approved by the Board.
 Organizational Structure
Sound organizational structure is sine qua non for successful implementation of an
effective credit risk management system. The organizational structure for credit risk management
should have the following basic features:

33. 1. The Board of Directors should have the overall responsibility for management of risks.
The Board should decide the risk management policy of the bank and set limits for
liquidity, interest rate, foreign exchange and equity price risks.
The Risk Management Committee will be a Board level Sub committee including CEO
and heads of Credit, Market and Operational Risk Management Committees. It will devise the
policy and strategy for integrated risk management containing various risk exposures of the bank
including the credit risk. For this purpose, this Committee should effectively coordinate between
the Credit Risk Management Committee (CRMC), the Asset Liability Management Committee
and other risk committees of the bank, if any. It is imperative that the independence of this
Committee is preserved. The Board should, therefore, ensure that this is not compromised at any
cost. In the event of the Board not accepting any recommendation of this Committee, systems
should be put in place to spell out the rationale for such an action and should be properly
documented. This document should be made available to the internal and external auditors for
their scrutiny and comments. The credit risk strategy and policies adopted by the committee
should be effectively
 Operations / Systems
Banks should have in place an appropriate credit administration, credit risk measurement
and monitoring processes. The credit administration process typically involves the following
phases:
1. Relationship management phase i.e. business development.
2. Transaction management phase covers risk assessment, loan pricing, structuring the
facilities, internal approvals, documentation, loan administration, on going monitoring
and risk measurement.

34. 3. Portfolio management phase entails monitoring of the portfolio at a macro level and the
management of problem loans
4. On the basis of the broad management framework stated above, the banks should have
the following credit risk measurement and monitoring procedures:
5. Banks should establish proactive credit risk management practices like annual / half
yearly industry studies and individual obligor reviews, periodic credit calls that are
documented, periodic visits of plant and business site, and at least quarterly management
reviews of troubled exposures/weak credits
 RBI Guidelines on Credit Risk New Capital Accord: Implications for
Credit Risk Management
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision had released in June 1999 the first
Consultative Paper on a New Capital Adequacy Framework with the intention of replacing the
current broad-brush 1988 Accord. The Basel Committee has released a Second Consultative
Document in January 2001, which contains refined proposals for the three pillars of the New
Accord - Minimum Capital Requirements, Supervisory Review and Market Discipline.
The Committee proposes two approaches, for estimating regulatory capital. viz.,
1. Standardized and
2. Internal Rating Based (IRB)
Under the standardized approach, the Committee desires neither to produce a net
increase nor a net decrease, on an average, in minimum regulatory capital, even after accounting
for operational risk. Under the Internal Rating Based (IRB) approach, the Committee's ultimate
goals are to ensure that the overall level of regulatory capital is sufficient to address the
underlying credit risks and also provides capital incentives relative to the standardized approach,
i.e., a reduction in the risk weighted assets of 2% to 3% (foundation IRB approach) and 90% of
the capital requirement under foundation approach for advanced IRB approach to encourage
banks to adopt IRB approach for providing capital.
The minimum capital adequacy ratio would continue to be 8% of the risk-weighted
assets, which cover capital requirements for market (trading book), credit and operational risks.

35. For credit risk, the range of options to estimate capital extends to include a standardized, a
foundation IRB and an advanced IRB approaches.
RBI Guidelines for Credit Risk Management Credit Rating Framework
A Credit-risk Rating Framework (CRF) is necessary to avoid the limitations associated
with a simplistic and broad classification of loans/exposures into a "good" or a "bad" category.
The CRF deploys a number/ alphabet/ symbol as a primary summary indicator of risks associated
with a credit exposure. Such a rating framework is the basic module for developing a credit risk
management system and all advanced models/approaches are based on this structure. In spite of
the advancement in risk management techniques, CRF is continued to be used to a great extent.
These frameworks have been primarily driven by a need to standardize and uniformly
communicate the "judgment" in credit selection procedures and are not a substitute to the vast
lending experience accumulated by the banks' professional staff.
Broadly, CRF can be used for the following purposes:
1. Individual credit selection, wherein either a borrower or a particular exposure/ facility is
rated on the CRF
2. Pricing (credit spread) and specific features of the loan facility. This would largely
constitute transaction-level analysis.
3. Portfolio-level analysis.
4. Surveillance, monitoring and internal MIS
Assessing the aggregate risk profile of bank/ lender. These would be relevant for portfolio-level
analysis. For instance, the spread of credit exposures across various CRF categories, the mean
and the standard deviation of losses occurring in each CRF category and the overall migration of
exposures would highlight the aggregated credit-risk for the entire portfolio of the bank.

36. OPERATIONAL RISK
 What is Operational Risk?
Operational risk is the risk associated with operating a business.
Operational risk covers such a wide area that it is useful to subdivide operational risk into two
components:
Operational failure risk.
Operational strategic risk.
Operational failure risk arises from the potential for failure in the course of operating
the business. A firm uses people, processes and technology to achieve the business plans, and any
one of these factors may experience a failure of some kind. Accordingly, operational failure risk
can be defined as the risk that there will be a failure of people, processes or technology within
the business unit. A portion of failure may be anticipated, and these risks should be built into the
business plan. But it is unanticipated, and therefore uncertain, failures that give rise to key
operational risks. These failures can be expected to occur periodically, although both their impact
and their frequency may be uncertain.
The impact or severity of a financial loss can be divided into two categories:
An expected amount
An unexpected amount.
The latter is itself subdivided into two classes: an amount classed as severe, and a catastrophic
amount. The firm should provide for the losses that arise from the expected component of these
failures by charging expected revenues with a sufficient amount of reserves. In addition, the firm
should set aside sufficient economic capital to cover the unexpected component, or resort to
insurance.
Operational strategic risk arises from environmental factors, such as a new competitor that
changes the business paradigram, a major political and regulatory regime change, and
earthquakes and other such factors that are outside the control of the firm. It also arises from
major new strategic initiatives, such as developing a new line of business or re-engineering an
existing business line. All business rely on people, processes and technology outside their

37. business unit, and the potential for failure exists there too, this type of risk is referred to as
external dependency risk.
The figure above summarizes the relationship between operational failure risk and operational
strategic risk. These two principal categories of risk are also sometimes defined as “internal” and
“ external” operational risk.
Figure: Two Broad Categories of Operational Risk
Operational Risk
Operational failure risk
(Internal operational risk)
The risk encountered in pursuit
of a particular strategy due to:
People
Process
Technology
Operational strategic risk
(External operational risk)
The risk of choosing an
inappropriate strategy in
response to environmental
factor, such as
Political
Taxation
Regulation
Government
Societal
Competition, etc.

38. Operational risk is often thought to be limited to losses that can occur in operating or
processing centers. This type of operational risk, sometimes referred as operations risk, is an
important component, but it by no means covers all of the operational risks facing the firm. Our
definition of operational risk as the risk associated with operating the business means significant
amounts of operational risk are also generated outside the processing centers.
Risk begins to accumulate even before the design of the potential transaction gets
underway. It is present during negotiations with the client (regardless of whether the negotiation
is a lengthy structuring exercise or a routine electronic negotiation.) and continues after the
negotiation as the transaction is serviced.
A complete picture of operational risk can only be obtained if the bank‟s activity is
analyzed from beginning to end. Several things have to be in place before a transaction is
negotiated, and each exposes the firm to operational risk. The activity carried on behalf of the
client by the staff can expose the institution to “people risk”. “People risk” are not only in the
form of risk found early in a transaction. But they further rely on using sophisticated financial
models to price the transaction. This creates what is called as Model risk which can arise because
of wrong parameters like input to the model, or because the model is used inappropriately and so
on.
Once the transaction is negotiated and a ticket is written, errors can occur as the
transaction is recorded in various systems or reports. An error here may result in the delayed
settlement of the transaction, which in turn can give rise to fines and other penalties. Further an
error in market risk and credit risk report might lead to the exposures generated by the deal being
understated. In turn this can lead to the execution of additional transactions that would otherwise
not have been executed. These are examples of what is often called as “process risk”
The system that records the transaction may not be capable of handling the transaction or
it may not have the capacity to handle such transactions. If any one of the step is out-sourced,
then external dependency risk also arises. However, each type of risk can be captured either as
people, processes, technology, or an external dependency risk, and each can be analyzed in terms
of capacity, capability or availability

39.  Who Should Manage Operational Risk?
The responsibility for setting policies concerning operational risk remains with the senior
management, even though the development of those policies may be delegated, and submitted to
the board of directors for approval. Appropriate policies must be put in place to limit the amount
of operational risk that is assumed by an institution. Senior management needs to give authority
to change the operational risk profile to those who are the best able to take action. They must
also ensure that a methodology for the timely and effective monitoring of the risks that are
incurred is in place. To avoid any conflict of interest, no single group within the bank should be
responsible for simultaneously setting policies, taking action and monitoring risk.
Internal Audit
Senior
Management
Business Management Risk Management
Legal
Operations
Information
Technology
Finance
Insurance

40. Policy Setting
The authority to take action generally rests with business management, which is
responsible for controlling the amount of operational risk taken within each business line. The
infrastructure and the governance groups share with business management the responsibility for
managing operational risk.
The responsibility for the development of a methodology for measuring and monitoring
operational risks resides most naturally with group risk management functions. The risk
management function also needs to ensure the proper operational risk/ reward analysis is
performed in the review of existing businesses and before the introduction of new initiatives and
products. In this regard, the risk management function works very closely with, but independent
from, business management, infrastructure, and other governance group
Senior management needs to know whether the responsibilities it has delegated are
actually being tended to, and whether the resulting processes are effective. The internal audit
function within the bank is charged with this responsibility.
 Key to Implementing Bank-wide Operational Risk Management:
The eight key elements are necessary to successfully implement a bank-wide operational
risk management framework. They involve setting policy and identifying risk as an outgrowth of
having designed a common language, constructing business process maps, building a best
measurement methodology, providing exposure management, installing a timely reporting
capability, performing risk analysis inclusive of stress testing, and allocating economic capital as
a function of operational risk.

41. EIGHT KEY ELEMENTS TO ACHIEVE BEST OPERATIONAL RISK
MANAGEMENT.
1. Develop well-defined operational risk policies. This includes explicitly articulating the
desired standards for the risk measurement. One also needs to establish clear guidelines
for practices that may contribute to a reduction of operational risk.
2. Establish a common language of risk identification. For e.g., the term “people risk”
includes a failure to deploy skilled staff. “Technology risk” would include system failure,
and so on.
3. Develop business process maps of each business. For e.g., one should create an
“operational risk catalogue” which categories and defines the various operational risks
arising from each organizational unit in terms of people, process, and technology risk.
This catalogue should be tool to help with operational risk identification and assessment.
1. Policy
Best Practice
2.Risk Identification
3. Business Process
4. Measuring Methodology
8. Economic Capital
7. Risk Analysis
6. Reporting
5. Exposure Management

42. Types of Operational Failure Risk
1. People Risk 1. Incompetancy.
2. Fraud.
2. Process Risk
Model Risk
TR
OCR
1. Model/ methodology error
2. Mark-to-model error.
1. Execution error.
2. Product complexity.
3. Booking error.
4. Settlement error.
1. Exceeding limits.
2. Security risk.
3.Volume risk.
3. Technology Risk 1. System failure.
2. Programming error.
3. Information risk.
4. Telecommunications failure.
4. Develop a comprehensible set of operational risk metrics. Operational risk assessment is
a complex process. It needs to be performed on a firm-wide basis at regular intervals
using standard metrics. In early days, business and infrastructure groups performed their
own assessment of operational risk. Today, self-assessment has been discredited.
Sophisticated financial institutions are trying to develop objective measures of
operational risk that build significantly more reliability into the quantification of
operational risk.
5. Decide how to manage operational risk exposure and take appriate action to hedge the
risks. The bank should address the economic question of th cost-benefit of insuring a
given risk for those operational risks that can be insured.
6. Decide how to report exposure.

43. 7. Develop tools for risk analysis, and procedures for when these tools should deploped. For
e.g., risk analysis is typically performed as part of a new product process, periodic
business reviews, and so on. Stress testing should be a standard part of risk analysis
process. The frequency of risk assessment should be a function of the degree to which
operational risks are expected to change over time as businesses undertake new
initiatives, or as business circumstances evolve. This frequency might be reviewed as
operational risk measurement is rolled out across the bank a bank should update its risk
assessment more frequently. Further one should reassess whenever the operational risk
profile changes significantly.
8. Develop techniques to translate the calculation of operational risk into a required amount
of economic capital. Tools and procedures should be developed to enable businesses to
make decisions about operational risk based on risk/reward analysis.
 Four-Step Measurement Process For Operational Risk
Clear guiding principle for the operational risk measurement process should be set to
ensure that it provides an appropriate measure of operational risk across all business units
throughout the bank. This problem of measuring operational risk can be best achieved by means
of a four-step operational risk process. The following are the four steps involved in the process:
1. Input.
2. Risk assessment framework.
3. Review and validation.
4. Output.
1. Input:
The first step in the operational risk measurement process is to gather the information
needed to perform a complete assessment of all significant operational risks. A key source of this
information is often the finished product of other groups. For example, a unit that supports the
business group often publishes report or documents that may provide an excellent starting point
for the operational risk assessment.

44. Sources of Information in the Measurement Process of Operational Risk :The Inputs (for
Assessment)
Likelihood of Occurrence Severity
Audit report Management interviews
Regulatory report Loss history
Management report
Expert opinion
Business Recovery Plan
Business plans
Budget plans
Operations plans
For example, if one is relying on audit documents as an indication of the degree of
control, then one needs to ask if the audit assessment is current and sufficient. Have there been
any significant changes made since the last audit assessment? Did the audit scope include the
area of operational risk that is of concern to the present risk assessment? As one diligently works
through available information, gaps often become apparent. These gaps in the information often
need to be filled through discussion with the relevant managers.
Typically, there are not sufficient reliable historical data available to confidently project
the likelihood or severity of operational losses. One often needs to rely on the expertise of
business management, until reliable data are compiled to offer an assessment of the severity of
the operational failure for each of the risks. The time frame employed for all aspects of the
assessment process is typically one year. The one-year time horizon is usually selected to align
with the business planning cycle of the bank.

45. 2. Risk Assessment Framework
The input information gathered in the above step needs to be analyzed and processed
through the risk assessment framework. Risk assessment framework includes:
1. Risk categories:
The operational risk can be broken down into four headline risk categories like the risk of
unexpected loss due to operational failure in people, process and technology deployed within
the business
Internal dependencies should each be reviewed according to a set of factors. We examine
these 9nternal dependencies according to three key components of capability, capacity and
availability.
External dependencies can also be analyzed in terms of the specific type of external
interaction.
2. Connectivity and interdependencies
The headline risk categories cannot be viewed in isolation from one another. One needs to
examine the degree of interconnected risk exposures that cut across the headline operational
risk categories, in order to understand the full impact of risk.
3. Change, complexity, compliancy:
One may view the sources that drive the headline risk categories as falling under the broad
categories of “Change” refers to such items as introducing new technology or new products,
a merger or acquisition, or moving from internal supply to outsourcing, etc. “Complexity‟
refers to such items as complexity of products, process or technology. “ Complacency” refer
to ineffective management of the business.
4. Net likelihood assessment
The likelihood that an operational failure might occur within the next year should be
assessed, net of risk mitigants such as insurance, for each identified risk exposure and for
each of the four headline risk categories. Since it is often unclear how to quantify risk, this
assessment can be rated along five point likelihood continuum from very low, low, medium,
high and very high.
5. Severity assessment
Severity describes the potential loss to the bank given that an operational risk failure has
occurred. It should be assessed for each identified risk exposure.

46. 6. Combined likelihood and severity into the overall Operational Risk Assessment
Operational risk measures are constrained in that there is not usually a defensible way to
combine the individual likelihood of loss and severity assessments into overall measure of
operational risk within a business unit. To do so, the likelihood of loss would need to be
expressed in numerical terms. This cannot be accomplished without statistically significant
historical data on operational losses.
7. Defining Cause and Effect:
Loss data are easier to collect than data associated with the cause of loss. This complicates
the measurement of operational risk because each loss is likely to have several causes. This
relationship between these causes, and the relative importance of each, can be difficult to
assess in an objective fashion.
3. Review and validation:
Once the report is generated. First the centralised operational risk management group
(ORMG) reviews the assessment results with senior business unit management and key officers,
in order to finalize the proposed operational risk rating. Second, one may want an operational
risk rating committee to review the assessment – a validation process similar to that followed by
credit rating agencies. This takes the form of review of the individual risk assessments by
knowledgeable senior committee personnel to ensure that the framework has been consistently
applied across businesses, that there has been sufficient scrutiny to remove any imperfections,
and so on. The committee should have representation from business management, audit, and
functional areas, and be chaired by risk management unit.
4. Output
The final assessment of operational risk will be formally reported to business
management, the centralised risk-adjusted return on capital (RAROC) group, and the partners in
corporate governance such as internal audit and compliance. The output of the assessment
process has two main uses:
1. The assessment provides better operational risk information to management for use in
improving risk management decisions.
2. The assessment improves the allocation of economic capital to better reflect the extent of
the operational riskier, being taken by a business unit.

47. 3. The over all assessment of the likelihood of operational risk & severity of loss for a
business unit can be shown as:
Mgmt. Attention
Severity of Loss ($)
Likelihood of Loss ($)
A business unit may address its operational risks in several ways. First, one can invest in
business unit. Second, one can avoid the risk by withdrawing from business activity. Third, one
can accept and manage risk through effective monitoring and control. Fourth, one can transfer
risk to another party. Of course, not all-operational risks are insurable, and in that case of those
that are insurable the required premium may be prohibitive. The strategy and eventually the
decision should be based on cost benefit analysis.
Medium
Risk
High
Risk
Medium
Risk
Low
Risk

48. An Idealized Bank Of The Future
The efficient bank of the future will be driven by a single analytical risk engine that
draws its data from a single logical data repository. This engine will power front-, middle-, and
back-office functions, and supply information about enterprise-wide risk. The ability to control
and manage risk will be finely tuned to meet specific business objectives. For example, far fewer
significantly large losses, beyond a clearly articulate tolerance for loss, will be incurred and the
return to risk profile will be vastly improved.
With the appropriate technology in place, financial trading across all asset classes will
move from the current vertical, product-oriented environment (e.g., swaps, foreign exchange,
equities, loans, etc.) to a horizontal, customer-oriented environment in which complex
combinations of asset types will be traded.
There will be less need for desks that specialize in single product lines. The focus will
shift to customer needs rather than instrument types. The management of limits will be based on
capital, set in such a manner so as to maximize the risk-adjusted return on capital for the firm.
The firm‟s exposure will be known and disseminated in real time. Evaluating the risk of a
specific deal will take into account its effect on the firm‟s total risk exposure, rather than simply
the exposure of the individual deal.
Banks that dominate this technology will gain a tremendous competitive advantage. Their
information technology and trading infrastructure will be cheaper than today‟s by orders of
magnitude. Conversely, banks that attempt to build this infrastructure in-house will become
trapped in a quagmire of large, expensive IT departments-and poorly supported software.
The successful banks will require far fewer risk systems. Most of which will be based on
a combination of industry standard, reusable, robust risk software and highly sophisticated
proprietary analytics. More importantly, they will be free to focus on their core business and
offer products more directly suited to their customers‟ desired return to risk profiles.

49. Study of Operational Risk at Punjab National Bank
Punjab National Bank is exposed to many types of operational risk. Operational risk can result
from a variety of factors, including:
1. Failure to obtain proper internal authorizations,
2. Improperly documented transactions,
3. Failure of operational and information security procedures,
4. Computer systems,
5. Software or equipment,
6. Fraud,
7. Inadequate training and employee errors.
PNB attempts to mitigate operational risk by maintaining a comprehensive system of internal
controls, establishing systems and procedures to monitor transactions, maintaining key back–up
procedures and undertaking regular contingency planning.
I. Operational Controls and Procedures in Branch
PNB has operating manuals detailing the procedures for the processing of various banking
transactions and the operation of the application software. Amendments to these manuals are
implemented through circulars sent to all offices.
When taking a deposit from a new customer, PNB requires the new customer to complete a
relationship form, which details the terms and conditions for providing various banking services.
Photographs of customers are also obtained for PNB‟s records, and specimen signatures are
scanned and stored in the system for online verification. PNB enters into a relationship with a
customer only after the customer is properly introduced to PNB. When time deposits become due
for repayment, the deposit is paid to the depositor. System generated reminders are sent to
depositors before the due date for repayment. Where the depositor does not apply for repayment
on the due date, the amount is transferred to an overdue deposits account for follow up.
PNB has a scheme of delegation of financial powers that sets out the monetary limit for each
employee with respect to the processing of transactions in a customer's account. Withdrawals
from customer accounts are controlled by dual authorization. Senior officers have delegated
power to authorize larger withdrawals. PNB‟s operating system validates the check number and

50. balance before permitting withdrawals. PNB‟s banking software has multiple security features to
protect the integrity of applications and data.
PNB gives importance to computer security and has s a comprehensive information technology
security policy. Most of the information technology assets including critical servers are hosted in
centralized data centers, which are subject to appropriate physical and logical access controls.
II. Operational Controls and Procedures for Internet Banking
In order to open an Internet banking account, the customer must provide PNB with
documentation to prove the customer's identity, including a copy of the customer's passport, a
photograph and specimen signature of the customer. After verification of the same, PNB opens
the Internet banking account and issues the customer a user ID and password to access his
account online.
III. Operational Controls and Procedures in Regional Processing Centers &
Central Processing Centers
To improve customer service at PNB‟s physical locations, PNB handles transaction processing
centrally by taking away such operations from branches. PNB has centralized operations at
regional processing centers located at 15 cities in the country. These regional processing centers
process clearing checks and inter-branch transactions, make inter-city check collections, and
engage in back office activities for account opening, standing instructions and auto-renewal of
deposits.
PNB has centralized transaction processing on a nationwide basis for transactions like the issue
of ATM cards and PIN mailers, reconciliation of ATM transactions, monitoring of ATM
functioning, issue of passwords to Internet banking customers, depositing post-dated cheques
received from retail loan customers and credit card transaction processing. Centralized
processing has been extended to the issuance of personalized check books, back office activities
of non-resident Indian accounts, opening of new bank accounts for customers who seek web
broking services and recovery of service charges for accounts for holding shares in book-entry
form.
IV. Operational Controls and Procedures in Treasury

51. PNB has a high level of automation in trading operations. PNB uses technology to monitor risk
limits and exposures. PNB‟s front office, back office and accounting and reconciliation functions
are fully segregated in both the domestic treasury and foreign exchange treasury. The respective
middle offices use various risk monitoring tools such as counterparty limits, position limits,
exposure limits and individual dealer limits. Procedures for reporting breaches in
limits are also in place.
PNB‟s front office treasury operation for rupee transactions consists of operations in fixed
income securities, equity securities and inter-bank money markets. PNB‟s dealers analyze the
market conditions and take views on price movements. Thereafter, they strike deals in
conformity with various limits relating to counterparties, securities and brokers. The deals are
then forwarded to the back office for settlement.
The inter-bank foreign exchange treasury operations are conducted through Reuters dealing
systems. Brokered deals are concluded through voice systems. Deals done through Reuters
systems are captured on a real time basis for processing. Deals carried out through voice systems
are input in the system by the dealers for processing. The entire process from deal origination to
settlement and accounting takes place via straight through processing. The processing ensures
adequate checks at critical stages. Trade strategies are discussed frequently and decisions are
taken based on market forecasts, information and liquidity considerations. Trading operations are
conducted in conformity with the code of conduct prescribed by internal and regulatory
guidelines.
The Treasury Middle Office Group, monitors counterparty limits, evaluates the mark-to-market
impact on various positions taken by dealers and monitors market risk exposure of the
investment portfolio and adherence to various market risk limits set up by the Risk, Compliance
and Audit Group.
PNB‟s back office undertakes the settlement of funds and securities. The back office has
procedures and controls for minimizing operational risks, including procedures with respect to
deal confirmations with counterparties, verifying the authenticity of counterparty checks and
securities, ensuring receipt of contract notes from brokers, monitoring receipt of interest and
principal amounts on due dates, ensuring transfer of title in the case of purchases of securities,
reconciling actual security holdings with the holdings pursuant to the records and reports any
irregularity or shortcoming observed.

52. V. Audit
The Internal Audit Group undertakes a comprehensive audit of all business groups and other
functions, in accordance with a risk-based audit plan. This plan allocates audit resources based
on an assessment of the operational risks in the various businesses. The Internal Audit group
conceptualizes and implements improved systems of internal controls, to minimize operational
risk. The audit plan for every fiscal year is approved by the Audit Committee of PNB‟s board of
directors. The Internal Audit group also has a dedicated team responsible for information
technology security audits. Various components of information technology from applications to
databases, networks and operating systems are covered under the annual audit plan.

53. Swot analysis
Strengths :-
 Large market share.
 Dominance in northern India and in rural retail banking.
 Financial high performance
Weaknesses:-
 Potential for political interference.
 Limited international operations provide little diversification; pace of overseas expansion
is fairly slow
Opportunities :-
 Plans for PNB Investment Services to set up an investment consultancy and a merchant
banking subsidiary.
 Increased business with customers in rural areas through banking correspondents and
technology (for the bank to benefit from low value, high volume transactions).
Threats :-
 The gradual entry of foreign banks operating more fully.

54. FINDINGS
Credit risk is generally well contained, but there are still problems associated with loan
classification, loan provisioning.
Market risk and operational risk are clear challenge, as the are relatively new to the areas
that were not well developed under the original Based Capital accord.
The new regulation will allow bank to introduce substantial improvements in their overall
risk management capababilities, improving risk based performance measurement.
Basel II leands to increase in data collection and maintence of privacy and security in
various issues.

55. SUGGESTIONS
The bank should review Basel II components and develop a vision, strategy and action plan for
what is expected to be a suitable framework based on how the banking system evolves over time.
The bank need regular engagement for sustained support.
Training and additional assistance to make it easier for the banking system to comply with new
guidelines on market and operational risk.

56. CONCLUSION
Implementation of basel II has been described as a long journey rather than a destination by
itself. Undoubtedly, it would require commitment of substational capital and human resources on
the part of both bank and the supervisors. Rbi has decided to follow a consultative process while
implementing Basel II norms and move in a grdual sequentional and co-ordinate manner. For the
purpose, dialogue has already been initated with stakeholders.

57. REFERENCES
FROM STAFF CONCERN
www.pnbindia.com
www.google.co.in
www.rbi.org