(a) General. A bank shall establish and maintain written policies and procedures to prevent excessive exposure to any individual correspondent in relation to the condition of the correspondent.

(b) Standards for selecting correspondents.

(1) A bank shall establish policies and procedures that take into account credit and liquidity risks, including operational risks, in selecting correspondents and terminating those relationships.

(2) Where exposure to a correspondent is significant, the policies and procedures shall require periodic reviews of the financial condition of the correspondent and shall take into account any deterioration in the correspondent's financial condition. Factors bearing on the financial condition of the correspondent include the capital level of the correspondent, level of nonaccrual and past due loans and leases, level of earnings, and other factors affecting the financial condition of the correspondent. Where public information on the financial condition of the correspondent is available, a bank may base its review of the financial condition of a correspondent on such information, and is not required to obtain non-public information for its review. However, for those foreign banks for which there is no public source of financial information, a bank will be required to obtain information for its review.

(3) A bank may rely on another party, such as a bank rating agency or the bank's holding company, to assess the financial condition of or select a correspondent, provided that the bank's board of directors has reviewed and approved the general assessment or selection criteria used by that party.

(c) Internal limits on exposure.

(1) Where the financial condition of the correspondent and the form or maturity of the exposure create a significant risk that payments will not be made in full or in a timely manner, a bank's policies and procedures shall limit the bank's exposure to the correspondent, either by the establishment of internal limits or by other means. Limits shall be consistent with the risk undertaken, considering the financial condition and the form and maturity of exposure to the correspondent. Limits may be fixed as to amount or flexible, based on such factors as the monitoring of exposure and the financial condition of the correspondent. Different limits may be set for different forms of exposure, different products, and different maturities.

(2) A bank shall structure transactions with a correspondent or monitor exposure to a correspondent, directly or through another party, to ensure that its exposure ordinarily does not exceed the bank's internal limits, including limits established for credit exposure, except for occasional excesses resulting from unusual market disturbances, market movements favorable to the bank, increases in activity, operational problems, or other unusual circumstances. Generally, monitoring may be done on a retrospective basis. The level of monitoring required depends on:

(i) The extent to which exposure approaches the bank's internal limits;

(ii) The volatility of the exposure; and

(iii) The financial condition of the correspondent.

(3) A bank shall establish appropriate procedures to address excesses over its internal limits.

(d) Review by board of directors. The policies and procedures established under this section shall be reviewed and approved by the bank's board of directors at least annually.

[Reg. F, 57 FR 60106, Dec. 18, 1992, as amended at 68 FR 53283, Sept. 10, 2003]