The FDIC published its quarterly banking profile for Q1 2025 yesterday. While the report looks "solid" on the surface, once you dive in a bit, the data is not as encouraging.. The banking industry turned in a “good quarter” by the numbers: Earnings up ROA at 1.16% Deposit growth continues Only one bank failed …but if you’ve spent time around balance sheets and risk models, you know that headlines can be deceiving. Earnings: up, but ..... Q1’s profit boost came mostly from non-interest income...

I’ve always been intrigued by crypto and the blockchain. But mostly from a distance as I'm pretty risk averse on the personal investing side and it hasn't really crept into, or impacted, my day job working with community banks and credit unions on model risk. Until now. 🪙 Stablecoins are starting to go mainstream and they’ve officially got my attention. If you’re not familiar, stablecoins are a type of digital currency designed to stay pegged to a stable asset - usually the U.S. dollar. So...

The OCC just released its Spring 2025 Semiannual Risk Perspective and, for community banks, it mostly backed up what we already know. 🏢...

Now that I’ve launched my own firm, ValuRisk Partners, I’ve been reflecting on some of the lessons that have shaped how I approach model...

One of the most common pitfalls in liquidity stress testing is using scenarios that escalate in severity but lack internal consistency....