loan Classification, Provisioning and Credit Review

Treatment of Differences between Supervisory and Accounting Provisions Saudi banks are expected to apply the relevant Accounting Standards. For purposes of bank accounting and financial reporting, the computation of general and specific provisions for loan impairment is governed by these accounting standards. Consequently, these are likely to differ from the supervisory general and specific provisions provided in this circular. While the accounting provisions are to be used for all published financial statements of a Saudi bank, the supervisory provisions are to be used solely for the purpose of prudential reporting to SAMA. The treatment of accumulated specific and general accounting and supervisory provisions will continue to be guided by the relevant accounting standards and relevant SAMA rules respectively. However, the difference in the annual charge between accounting and supervisory provisions must be reflected by an adjustment directly into the accumulated retained earnings of the bank on the supervisory returns. In case a bank has no retained earnings, the adjustment will be made to the general or statutory reserves after discussion with the Central Bank on a case by case basis. Section III. Other Matters 3.1. Rescheduled Loans A restructured troubled loan arises when a bank, for economic or legal reasons related to the obligor’s financial difficulties, grants him a concession that it would not otherwise consider. A bank should measure a restructured troubled loan by reducing the recorded outstanding to net realizable value as required by the relevant accounting standards, taking into account the cost of all concessions at the date of restructuring. The reduction in the outstanding amount should be recorded as a charge to the income statement in the period in which the loan is restructured. In cases where non-performing loans in particular are rescheduled, such loans should not be upwardly reclassified merely because of the existence of a rescheduling agreement. Upward reclassification should only be made if and when there is sufficient evidence of adherence to the terms of the rescheduling agreement. This evidence would include the establishment of a history for at least 12 months of timely repayments of both principal and commission/interest under the rescheduling agreement. 3.2. Overdrafts Formal procedures should be put into place to support the determination of the classification of an overdraft based on transactions within the overdraft and in particular the timeliness of repayments of commission/income. As a minimum, these procedures should include: • Periodic systematic comparison of the aggregate value of credits in the overdraft account with the repayments due and other debits in the account. • Understanding the nature and source of the credits in the account. • Review of the history of the account balance. 3.3. Collateral Prudent and proper valuation of collateral is critical to the determination of provisions. Proper procedures should be put into place to value collateral on a periodic basis, at least once a year, using external appraisers or external reliable published information. In cases where judgment is used in the valuation of the collateral and where the collateral or the credit is significant, valuations should be carried out by more than one external appraiser. In general, collateral obtained for consumer credit and similar credits where large number of relatively small balances is outstanding would be excluded from such requirements. The valuations so obtained should be adjusted downwards by an appropriate percentage to reflect costs of disposal, fluctuations in market values and the inherent lack of accuracy in such valuations. 3.4. The Basel Capital Accord and Provisioning The Basel 2 Capital Accord provides incentives to internationally active banks to develop and implement sophisticated and advance system for measuring and capturing credit, market and operational risks. For credit risk, it e