Advanced Internal Rating-Based (AIRB)

« Back to Glossary Index

What Is Advanced Internal Rating-Based (AIRB)?

The advanced internal rating-based (AIRB) methodology to credit risk measurement calls for a financial institution to internally calculate each risk factor. An institution’s capital requirements and credit risk can be reduced with the use of advanced internal rating-based (AIRB).

The advanced technique evaluates the risk of default utilizing loss given default (LGD), exposure at default (EAD), and the probability of default in addition to the basic internal rating-based (IRB) approach predictions (PD). The risk-weighted asset (RWA), which is calculated on a percentage basis for the entire required capital, is determined by these three factors.

Recognizing Internal Rating-Based Advanced Systems

To become a Basel II-compliant institution, one element in the process is to implement the AIRB method. However, an institution can only use the AIRB strategy provided they abide by the Basel II agreement’s specified supervision norms.

Basel II is a collection of international banking laws that build on Basel I and were released by the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision in July 2006. To level the playing field in international banking, these regulations provided uniform rules and procedures. Basel II enhanced Basel I’s guidelines for minimum capital requirements, created a framework for regulatory review, and introduced disclosure standards for determining capital adequacy. Basel II also takes institutional asset credit risk into account.

Empirical models and advanced internal rating-based systems

Banks can evaluate several internal risk components themselves using the AIRB methodology. The Jarrow-Turnbull model is one illustration of how empirical models differ amongst institutions. The Jarrow-Turnbull model is a “reduced-form” credit model that was initially created and published by Robert A. Jarrow (Kamakura Corporation and Cornell University) and Stuart Turnbull (University of Houston). Reduced form credit models, as opposed to microeconomic models of the firm’s capital structure, focus on describing bankruptcy as a statistical process. (This approach serves as the foundation for popular “structural credit models.”) The Jarrow-Turnbull model makes use of a framework for random interest rates. When calculating the risk of default, financial institutions frequently use both Jarrow-Turnbull and structural credit models.

Additionally, banks can determine loss given default (LGD) and exposure at default with the aid of advanced internal rating-based systems (EAD). Exposure at Default (EAD) is the total value that a bank is exposed to at the time of the default, whereas Loss Given Default is the amount of money that will be lost in the event that a borrower defaults.

Internal Rating-Based Systems of the Future and Capital Needs

The amount of liquidity required to be held for a specific level of assets at many financial institutions is determined by capital requirements, which are set by regulatory organizations like the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Bank for International Settlements. Additionally, they make sure that depository institutions and banks have enough capital to cover operating losses and honor withdrawals. Financial institutions can determine these levels with the use of AIRB.

« Back to Glossary Index
Scroll to Top

Join Our List

Sign up here to get the latest news, updates and special offers.