Description

A focused course, tailored for you

Credit Risk Analysis for the Basel IV Desk

Build the facility assessment and regulatory capital skills that move credit memos from draft to approved.

Credit Risk Associates spend the bulk of their time on analysis that is technically correct but structurally incomplete. The obligor rating is defensible. The facility terms are accurate. What is missing is the ability to translate both into the regulatory capital narrative the credit committee expects. Under Basel IV and APRA APS 112, the RWA treatment of a single facility depends on obligor grade, facility type, collateral recognition, and the standardised vs IRB pathway. Associates who cannot walk through that chain in a credit memo spend committee meetings fielding questions they cannot answer on the spot.

$199 one-time

Tailored to your situation. Access within 24 hours. 30-day money-back.

Includes a hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access, generated for your specific situation.

Why this course

The workflow for a Credit Risk Associate is: pull the financials, build the rating model, assess the facility, write the memo. The disconnect arrives at committee. The RWA figure is queried. The collateral haircut is challenged. The covenant package is re-examined against the credit policy. None of these questions require new analysis. They require the associate to have already framed the memo in the regulatory capital vocabulary the committee uses. Under the Basel IV standardised approach, corporate exposures carry different RWA depending on whether the obligor is rated, unrated, or investment grade. SME exposures get a separate treatment. Real estate collateral triggers CRE rules. Associates who have not built this vocabulary produce memos that generate three rounds of follow-up questions before approval.

What you walk away with

Apply the Basel IV standardised approach to classify corporate, SME, and real estate exposures and calculate the correct RWA for a given facility.
Write a credit memo structure that surfaces the regulatory capital narrative before the committee asks for it.
Assess collateral packages against APRA-recognised credit risk mitigation rules and document the haircut rationale.
Build an obligor rating that maps directly to the standardised risk weight table used in the memo.
Stress test a facility at origination using a covenant-linked scenario that holds up under credit policy review.
Draft the facility classification section of a credit memo that pre-empts the three most common committee questions on RWA treatment.

The 12 modules

Module 1. The Basel IV Standardised Approach for Credit Risk Associates

This module builds the regulatory framework from the associate's perspective. It covers how the Basel IV standardised approach differs from the IRB approach, why most deal-level credit work sits in the standardised pathway, and what the APRA APS 112 implementation means for the facility assessments an associate writes daily. By the end you can explain to a committee member why a specific RWA figure was used without referencing the model.

Module 2. Obligor Classification: Rated, Unrated, and Investment Grade Corporates

The RWA on a corporate exposure depends entirely on whether the obligor is externally rated and what that rating implies under the standardised risk weight table. This module works through the three classification paths, the APRA APS 112 treatment for unrated corporates, and how to document the classification decision in a credit memo so the committee does not need to re-derive it. Includes a worked example of a mid-market manufacturing obligor with no external rating.

Module 3. Facility Classification: Revolving, Term, and Contingent Exposures

A revolving credit facility and a term loan carry different credit conversion factors under the standardised approach. Contingent exposures like guarantees and letters of credit have their own CCF table. This module maps the most common facility types a Credit Risk Associate encounters to their correct classification under APS 112, and shows how to write the facility classification section of the memo in a way that closes off the committee's first question before it is asked.

Module 4. RWA Calculation: A Step-by-Step Framework for Credit Memos

This module builds a repeatable RWA calculation workflow: identify the exposure amount, apply the correct CCF, determine the risk weight from the obligor classification, multiply. It covers the most common calculation errors in associate-level memos, including mixing standardised and IRB inputs, mis-classifying revolving facilities, and omitting the collateral haircut step. The output is a one-page RWA summary template that can be inserted into any credit memo.

Module 5. Collateral Recognition Under APS 112: What Counts and What Does Not

Not all collateral reduces RWA under the standardised approach. APRA's APS 112 eligible financial collateral list is narrower than most associates expect. This module covers which collateral types are recognised, the standard supervisory haircuts for each, and how to document the credit risk mitigation in the memo. It includes the common committee challenge where real estate is offered as collateral but the CRE classification changes the RWA treatment entirely.

Module 6. SME Exposure Treatment: The Retail and Corporate Split

SME exposures below a certain aggregate threshold receive a preferential risk weight under the standardised approach. This module explains the APRA APS 112 SME definition, the aggregate exposure test, and how to document the classification when the obligor sits near the threshold. It includes a worked example of a small business borrower whose facility straddles the retail and corporate SME boundary, and the memo language that explains the classification to a committee that did not read the standard.

Module 7. Real Estate Collateral: CRE Rules and the Income-Producing Property Test

When a facility is secured by real estate, the CRE classification rules under Basel IV change the risk weight significantly. This module covers the income-producing real estate test, the land acquisition and development exposure rules, and how to determine whether the borrower's repayment capacity depends materially on the property cash flows. It walks through the memo language that documents the classification decision and pre-empts the committee's question about why a lower risk weight was not applied.

Module 8. Credit Memo Structure: Writing for a Basel-Literate Committee

A committee that thinks in regulatory capital terms reads a credit memo differently from one focused purely on credit quality. This module restructures the standard credit memo format to surface the regulatory capital narrative early: obligor classification and risk weight first, facility classification and CCF second, collateral recognition third, RWA summary fourth. It includes a before-and-after redraft of a real facility memo that generated four committee follow-up questions before this structure was applied.

Module 9. Covenant Packaging for Credit Policy Compliance

Financial covenants need to be designed against the credit policy's own risk appetite thresholds, not just the borrower's financial profile. This module covers how to map covenant levels to the obligor rating scale, how to document the covenant rationale in the memo so it reads as proactive risk management rather than boilerplate, and how to draft the covenant breach escalation section that satisfies the credit policy requirement without adding three paragraphs of padding to the memo.

Module 10. Stress Testing at Origination: The Facility That Holds Under Pressure

Stress testing a facility at origination is different from running a portfolio stress test. This module builds a single-obligor stress framework: identify the two or three variables that drive the obligor's debt service capacity, move each variable by a defined stress factor, recalculate the interest cover and leverage ratios, and document the outcome in the memo. The committee question this prevents: what happens to this facility in a rate-rise scenario, and did you check it?

Module 11. Counterparty and Concentration Risk: Documenting the Committee's Second Question

After the RWA question, the next committee question is usually about concentration. This module covers how to document single-name concentration relative to the credit policy limit, sector concentration for obligors in cyclical industries, and geographic concentration for cross-border facilities. It includes the memo section format that presents concentration risk as a managed exposure with documented mitigants rather than an unanswered risk flag.

Module 12. From Draft to Approved: Pre-Empting the Three Committee Questions

This final module reverse-engineers the three most common credit committee questions and rebuilds the memo structure to answer all three before they are asked. The three questions are: why this risk weight, what happens under stress, and how does this fit the concentration limit. The module provides a pre-submission checklist an associate can run against any credit memo before it reaches the committee, reducing approval cycles from three rounds to one.

How this addresses your situation

Specific modules that map to what you said you are dealing with.

RWA calculation queried at committee: Modules 2, 3, 4

Collateral recognition challenged: Module 5

SME vs corporate classification unclear: Module 6

Real estate collateral RWA dispute: Module 7

Credit memo generating multiple follow-up questions: Module 8

Covenant package challenged against credit policy: Module 9

Committee asks about stress scenario: Module 10

Concentration risk flag raised: Module 11

What you get with this course

Twelve written modules covering Basel IV / APRA APS 112 standardised approach for corporate, SME, and real estate exposures
Downloadable RWA calculation template for credit memos
Downloadable credit memo structure template with Basel IV narrative sections
Worked examples for unrated corporate, SME threshold, CRE, and contingent facility classifications
Pre-submission checklist: three committee questions answered before submission
The hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access

What you will have in hand by Day 1, Week 1, Month 1

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.

Before and after

Before

Credit memo is technically correct. The obligor rating holds. The facility terms are accurate. Committee asks one question about RWA treatment and the answer takes three days to reconstruct from the model.

After

Credit memo surfaces the regulatory capital narrative in the first two pages. Obligor classification, facility CCF, collateral recognition, and RWA summary are all documented before the committee session. Approval comes back in one round.

What happens if you do not address this

Credit Risk Associates who cannot present the Basel IV regulatory capital narrative in a memo spend the first two years of their career in approval cycles that a more prepared peer completes in one. The gap compounds: committee members form a view of analytical capability based on memo quality. An associate who consistently generates follow-up questions on RWA treatment is not seen as junior, they are seen as not ready for more complex facilities.

Who it is for

Credit Risk Associates at banks and financial groups who are one to three years into a credit role. They can build a credit model, write an obligor rating, and draft a facility summary. They have not yet internalised the Basel IV / APRA APS 112 standardised approach well enough to write a credit memo that anticipates the committee's regulatory capital questions. This course is for the associate who wants to stop re-explaining their own analysis and start presenting it in the vocabulary the committee already thinks in.

Who this is NOT for. Not for senior credit officers who already run committee. Not for credit risk modellers building IRB parameter estimation. Not for compliance teams writing APS 112 policy. This course is for the associate doing deal-level credit work who wants to close the gap between technically correct analysis and committee-ready presentation.

How it arrives

Text-based course in the Art of Service learning environment, plus downloadable templates and worked examples for every module, plus the hand-built implementation playbook delivered alongside course access.

Time investment. Each module is designed for focused reading in 30-40 minutes. Full course completion in three to four working days. The RWA calculation template and memo structure template are usable from module four onward.

Why $199 is the right number

Basel IV documentation from the BIS and APRA APS 112 are publicly available but written for prudential policy teams, not credit associates. Banking training programs cover credit fundamentals but rarely connect the deal-level memo to the regulatory capital treatment in a way a junior associate can apply to the next facility on their desk. This course is written for the associate who can already build a credit model and needs the vocabulary to present it at committee.

FAQ

Is this course relevant to associates working on institutional or corporate facilities rather than retail lending?

Yes. The course is built around corporate, SME, and real estate exposures under the Basel IV standardised approach. Retail lending and consumer credit have a different RWA treatment that is not covered here.

Does the course cover the IRB approach or only the standardised approach?

Only the standardised approach. Associates doing deal-level credit work at banks that have received APRA IRB accreditation still need the standardised approach for facilities where the IRB pathway does not apply, and for understanding the committee questions that reference the standardised risk weight table.

Will the RWA calculation template work for both Australian APRA-regulated facilities and cross-border facilities?

The template is built against APRA APS 112, which implements Basel IV for Australian-regulated entities. Cross-border facilities involving overseas obligors introduce local regulatory capital rules that the template flags but does not resolve. The memo structure template applies regardless of jurisdiction.

30-day money-back guarantee. If after a week of working through the materials this is not what you needed, reply to the receipt email and a full refund is processed. No questions, no forms.

Within 24 hours your account in the learning environment is provisioned and the tailored implementation playbook is delivered alongside it.