Various financial reports and helpful guidelines appear within each lesson area (called agenda items) in this course.  If you would like to view a list of all the meeting materials for this course, check the Reference View.

Before board meetings at your bank, you may receive a packet that contains materials to be discussed.  While specific items may differ from bank to bank, there will be similarities, because banks generally share the same challenges in managing their business.  For example, you’ll usually find an agenda, minutes from the last board meeting and committee reports.

Other information you might find in your board reports include:

Financial Performance Information

This includes comparative financial statements, such as the balance sheet and the income statement.

Loan Portfolio Information

This includes:

• problem loan lists;
• past due and nonaccrual loans;
• watch list loans;
• loan charge-offs and recoveries;
• other real estate owned (OREO);
• reports on new or large loans, renewals and participations;
• analysis of allowance for loan and lease losses (ALLL); and
• summary of internal loan reviews.

 
Asset/Liability Management

This includes:

• analysis of interest rate sensitivity and
• liquidity position detailing evolving funding needs.

Investments

This includes:

• quarterly reports on the bank’s investment securities, possibly divided into sections related to securities designated held-to-maturity and available-for-sale;
• maturity breakdown by type of investment;
• market values and depreciation/appreciation;
• current investment ratings;
• list of securities purchased, sold and matured; and
• yield analysis.

Regulatory matters

This includes:

• recently completed examinations, including assigned ratings, and
• deficiencies noted in previous reports of examination and the status of corrective actions.

Audits

This includes:

• the annual audit plan of what will be audited and when, and the plan’s status;
• recently completed internal and external audit reports; and
• deficiencies noted in previous audit reports and the status of corrective actions.

Operations

This includes:

• overdraft report;
• personnel matters;
• training plan;
• risk assessments or profiles, that show management’s assessment of the various risks; and
• legal actions taken by or against the bank.

Planning

This includes:

• policies for review and approval,
• new products to be introduced and
• strategic planning materials.

Of particular importance among all these materials are minutes of the board meetings.  Minutes constitute a formal record of what occurred during board and committee meetings.  Because of this, you should always review them to ensure they are accurate and complete.  For new directors, reviewing the minutes is a great way to become familiar with the issues and risks facing your bank.  Review the History in Minutes exercise to get a better understanding of specific issues confronting your bank as well as your bank’s strategy for resolving them.

Besides minutes, there are other useful documents that address the bank as a corporation. For more information on these documents, click here.