- Before
- “I spend six weeks building the stress test and one afternoon talking about it.”
- Now
- Answers the board’s “what if” by moving a slider, with every loan re-stressed, and saves it into the write-up.
One month-end run, from the market move to the signed board report
Ashgrove Community Bank, Columbus, Ohio: 486 CRE loans, $1,320.3M, against $412.6M of total risk-based capital at 30 September 2026. The board risk committee meets Thursday 22 October. Here is the October run, screen by screen, in the working solution.
- 01Morning
The book on one scenario board
Renee Castellano · CRE portfolio managerRenee opens the October desk view — in-place rents down 8% as leases roll. Losses to Dec 2028 are $13.8M, capital after losses $398.8M, 14 loans are below 1.0x and no limit is crossed. But after those losses office sits at 49.8% of capital against a 50% limit, and total CRE at 331.1% of 350%.
Run log: “Market data watcher — Columbus CBD office cap rate +40 bp since September · try +50 bp on office-heavy markets.”
- 02One click
Cap rates widen 150 bp — and office crosses its limit
Renee Castellano · CRE portfolio managerShe clicks +150 on the cap-rate slider. Losses rise to $24.5M and capital after losses falls to $388.1M. The office bar crosses its red line at 51.2%, 37 loans are now below 1.0x — 23 more than the desk view — and the newly broken loans move to the top of the list, each with its occupancy, coupon, refinance rate, NOI against debt service and value.
“Stress tester re-stressed 486 loans from their own rent rolls and debt terms · cap rates +150 bp · rents −8% · 37 below 1.0x · $24.5M.”
- 03Saved
The question goes into the write-up
Renee Castellano · CRE portfolio managerShe saves the move as “Cap rates +150 bp · rents −8%”, saved with every loan’s result and every assumption. With one switch it goes into the stress test write-up as a column beside the board’s three scenarios, with the loans that break.
- 04Next
Every loan as one square, weakest cover first
Renee Castellano · CRE portfolio managerBelow the loss curve, all 486 loans sit as squares by property type, coloured by the weaker of debt cover and value cover. The ones that broke since the desk view are ringed — twelve office loans now below 1.0x. Click any square for the loan’s walk.
- 05Concentration
The three supervisory tests, and the board’s sub-limits
Concentration calculatorTotal CRE is 320.0% of capital, construction and land 89.4% with $43.7M of headroom, and 36-month growth 44.6% from $913.1M in Sep 2023. By property type, office is 48.1% against its 50% sub-limit — $7.7M of headroom. Nine approved, unfunded loans worth $96.5M sit in the pipeline, one switch away.
“Above the 300% benchmark since Jun 2025 — so the guidance expects enhanced risk management and stress testing, which this is.”
- 06Run October · 2 min 8 s
Three board scenarios on every loan
The six agentsRenee presses Run October. The agents read the 30 Sep loan tape, the rent rolls, statements and appraisals, refresh cap rates and rents, test every limit and run 1,458 loan-scenarios. Severe-case losses are $46.2M, capital after the severe case $366.4M, and total CRE goes to 360.4% — above the board’s 350% limit.
“475 of 486 statements current · 11 older than 15 months, used as they are and marked.”
- 07Assumptions
The board’s assumptions, next to the number
Sunita Varma · Chief Risk OfficerThe scenario library is version 3, approved by the board risk committee on 23 April 2026. The severe case takes office values down 35% and office income down 22%, with rates +200 bp at refinance or reprice. Sunita can test her own scenario beside it, recalculated loan by loan, and add it to the board report.
- 08Drill down
Why Larch Street Tower fails
Renee Castellano · CRE portfolio managerThe $18.4M office loan matures in June 2027 and refinances at 8.75% (6.75% + 200 bp) on a 25-year amortisation: debt service goes from $1,182,000 to $1,815,293, while NOI falls from $1,742,000 to $1,358,760. Coverage 1.47x → 0.74x. The March 2025 appraisal of $24.0M becomes $15.6M, loan to value 76.7% → 117.9%. Projected loss: $5,280,000.
Its largest tenant, Brannock & Lee LLP, has a lease ending March 2027. Every line opens to the rent roll, statement or appraisal it came from.
- 09Drafted
A six-page board report, with actions proposed
Board report drafterSummary, concentration against limits with and without the pipeline, stress results with Renee’s cap-rate scenario as a fourth column, the loans that drive the loss and every assumption. Four actions are proposed: a new appraisal for Larch Street Tower, an early refinance conversation with its borrower, funding the construction pipeline in step with payoffs, and collecting the 11 stale statements.
“4 proposed · the committee decides.”
- 10Signed
Reviewed, signed, and with the committee
Martin Hale · Chief Credit OfficerRenee sends the report at 08:47. Sunita Varma reviews it, and Martin Hale signs. Every step — the tape loaded, the run, the draft, the scenario Renee saved, the signature — is on the activity trail.
“Martin Hale signed · the report is with the board risk committee for 22 October.”