From Excel to Automation
Small banks like National Bank of Middlebury are taking the occasion of CECL to replace Excel with an automated allowance solution. CECL promises to make life complicated. Small rural institutions like the National Bank of Middlebury in west central Vermont are used to stability and keeping things uncomplicated. Their due diligence on ALLL automation is built around doing just that.
Recently we caught up with Sarah A. P. Cowan, Senior Vice President of the National Bank of Middlebury to talk about her decision to move from Excel to an automated allowance software solution.
Challenges with their old ALLL process
Over the years Cowan’s ALLL process has been managed by downloading data from their core system and integrating it into multiple Excel spreadsheets. Challenges that have come from this include keeping the many spreadsheets consistent and including the qualitative factors used to make adjustments to the allowance. Even though, as far as loan portfolios go, the National Bank of Middlebury’s portfolio is an uncomplicated mix of first mortgages and home equity lines complemented by small business loans and a small group of municipal loans, there was just too much room for error with the spreadsheets.tomate the ALLL with a software solution