Governance and Compliance in Credit Risk & Lending Training Course

Lending remains the main source of risk and income for most financial institutions, and it is also where regulators concentrate their attention. Rising non-performing loans, tighter capital rules and the move to forward-looking provisioning under IFRS 9 mean that credit decisions must be consistent, documented and defensible. Weak governance allows exceptions to become habits and small control lapses to grow into material losses.

The Governance and Compliance in Credit Risk & Lending Training Course concentrates on the controls that surround credit rather than on credit scoring alone. It starts with the responsibilities of the board, senior management and the three lines of defence, then examines credit policy, risk appetite statements, concentration limits and delegated authority. The second part follows the lending cycle: origination, appraisal, approval, disbursement conditions, documentation, monitoring and covenant tracking. The final sessions address classification, provisioning, restructuring, recovery and the independent review of credit files by audit and supervisors.

Participants analyse anonymised case files, identify control weaknesses and write corrective actions. They also practise preparing credit committee papers and board credit risk reports. The course closes with an action plan to tighten governance and compliance in the participant's own lending operation.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Define board, management and three-line responsibilities for credit risk governance.
• Draft or review credit policy provisions and risk appetite limits.
• Apply delegated lending authorities and segregation of duties correctly.
• Detect compliance breaches involving insider lending, concentration and documentation gaps.
• Set up covenant monitoring and early warning processes for performing loans.
• Explain loan classification and IFRS 9 expected credit loss concepts and their governance.
• Evaluate restructuring and recovery decisions against policy and fairness.
• Review credit files and report control weaknesses with practical recommendations.

The course is suited to those who approve, oversee or examine lending, including:

• Credit officers and credit committee members
• Chief risk officers and credit risk managers
• Compliance officers in banks and non-bank lenders
• Internal auditors and external audit staff reviewing loan books
• Board risk and credit committee members
• Bank supervisors and examiners
• SACCO and microfinance institution managers
• Development finance and lending programme officers

Participants complete the course with:

• A credit governance checklist covering policy, authority, documentation and monitoring.
• A tested method for reviewing loan files and rating control weaknesses.
• A template for credit committee papers and board credit risk reports.
• Practical wording for covenants and monitoring triggers.
• A clear view of how provisioning decisions should be governed and challenged.
• An action plan to close control gaps in their own organisation.

The course is practical and file-based. It uses:

• Anonymised loan files containing deliberate control breaks to find and correct
• Short briefings on regulatory expectations and good practice
• Role plays of credit committee and board challenge sessions
• Drafting workshops for reports, policies and covenants
• Group discussion of participants' own governance dilemmas

Participants who attend all five days and complete the practical file reviews are awarded a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion by Vision Reach Global Consultancy.