Macquarie University

Lending and Borrowing Decisions - AFCL856

This unit focuses on credit risk from the perspectives of both a lender – taking credit risk – and a borrower – accessing debt capital and other financial services. This dual view allows us to discover how bankers assess default risk, make the decision to lend and structure loans to mitigate key risks, while also building an appreciation of how a business can shape and influence the terms on which debt capital is accessed from bank lenders to meet the borrower’s needs.
After a review of how various types of lending products can be matched to borrowers’ requirements, we examine the core concepts of probability of default, loss given default and exposure at default. These concepts inform our discussion of how banks manage credit risks through the structure of the loan balanced against providing workable access to funding for the borrower. The obligations of borrowers under typical corporate loan documentation are discussed, including the practical implications for managing the banker-borrower relationship (from both perspectives) in normal times and when loans are becoming distressed.
Finally the management of credit risk in financial institutions, including the interface with regulators, the governance framework and culture, is presented.