Former banker Peter S. Clarke has published a new book titled Complete Guide to Protecting Your Loan Portfolio, available as a Kindle e-book on Amazon.com. The book addresses strategies for turn-around, debt restructuring, special assets, lender liability and bankruptcy.
“Most bankers cannot unequivocally declare that they have been untouched by problem loans,” Clarke notes. “Certainly it is a fact of life during industry down-turn cycles and tumultuous times…that virtually all banks will be faced with problem or so-called workout loans, more recently referred to as special assets. In this connection, we would like to share some ideas on not only how to manage and monitor your bank’s loan portfolio, but more specifically address how to protect your loan portfolio before problems arise and, when necessary, ways to reclaim the collateral assets securing them. In addition, we aspire to provide you with the essential strategies that may be used for loan recovery once a credit becomes a problem and when a debtor enters bankruptcy, including protection against lender liability.”
“First, let us define a problem loan,” Clarke continues. “Basically, it is one where repayment is in jeopardy, especially if the expected or anticipated source of repayment is no longer sufficiently available to repay the debt. Put another way, a problem loan can be defined as one that involves a default in the repayment agreement resulting in undue delay in collection, or in which there appears to be a potential loss. Virtually all banks sustain problem loans; the key is to minimize the loss.”
Clarke has more than 30 years of experience in commercial lending and loan/credit administration with multi-billion-dollar banking institutions, including Citibank in New York, Texas Commerce Bank (now Chase Bank) in Houston, Great Western Bancorp (now Wells Fargo Bank) and Frost Bank in Houston. He has also been with Houston-based The WFA Group for more than 20 years. The WFA Group provides collateral field exams on all types and sizes of credits for banks and non-banks around the country.
