Have your systems
in place.

Pohl assists you in evaluating the business risk inherent in your Trust business and help you define the Risk Management process.

The “third leg” of any business or business unit is “risk management.”  The other two are sales and service!  Certainly this is true in the Trust industry.  The industry regulators are focusing more and more on this component of department management. Regulators recognize that many Trust Departments do not have well-defined policies and procedures in place to identify and properly manage risk.  Their feedback has ranged from “better have a plan when we come in the next time” to serious criticisms of existing policies and procedures or about the lack of policies and procedures.   Community Bank Trust Departments typically have limited resources.  Balancing how you respond to regulatory requirements with the other expectations that exist is not easy.

The parameters for risk management policies or procedures provided by the OCC (and any other regulator that we have found) are often vague and/or unclear.  Furthermore, the general guidance provided is often conceived with larger departments in mind.  Regulators tend to be more willing to work with you if you are making a serious effort to develop and refine (on an on-going basis) your Trust Department’s Risk Management Program. The significance of and the emphasis on Risk Management in the Trust area is not going away.  Most industry observers agree that it will continue to increase.

Pohl Consulting and Training, Inc. can assist you in evaluating the business risk inherent in your Trust business and help define the Risk Management processes that need to be implemented or improved in your particular organization.

Our first step is to assess the risk inherent in the Trust business. Then we address:

• Policies and Procedures
• Acceptance policy and practice
• Account review process
• Account closing process
• Operational Risk and Risk Management Protocols
• Staff and Management Consciousness and Understanding of Trust Risk
• Client Relationship Management
• Client contact (Quantity and Quality)
• Client contact documentation

The deliverable of such a project is a written report with two major components:

• A general assessment of your risk,  and
• A series of recommendations to enhance your risk management processes and systems.

Get ahead of the regulators! Make sure you have acceptable risk management policies and procedures!  Make sure your operation really does have the systems in place to manage the risk in the business.

This service provided by Wealth Management Compliance Alliance©, a division of Pohl Consulting and Training, Inc.