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An Asset-Liability Committee (ALCO) is a supervisory organization that coordinates the management of assets and liabilities with the aim of generating acceptable returns. Executives can impact a company's net earnings by managing its assets and liabilities, which may result in higher stock prices.
The asset-liability and risk management activities of a bank or other financial institution are supervised by an ALCO. It serves as a committee for risk management, an evaluation panel, a group for supervisors, and a body for making decisions.
In order to efficiently assess on- and off-balance-sheet risk for an organization, an ALCO offers crucial management information systems (MIS) and oversight. A bank's operational model also takes interest rate risk and liquidity into account.
In order to manage the bank's spread between interest revenue and expense, one of the ALCO's objectives is to make sure that there is enough liquidity. Operational risk and investments are also taken into account. A minimum of once every three months, an ALCO gathers to discuss the performance, plans, and practices of the bank.
The goals, objectives, and risk tolerances of the board for operating standards should be reflected in an ALCO's strategies, policies, and procedures. Also, they ought to explain how important it is to use liabilities, operating cash flows, and asset liquidity to fulfill both ongoing and unforeseen funding requirements. They should also describe their tolerances for liquidity risk and talk about how central aspects of fund management are distributed or centralized inside the institution.
Aside from reviewing immediate funding requirements and sources and identifying liquidity risk exposures to unfavorable scenarios with variable probability and severity, an ALCO also prepares and maintains a contingency financing plan. Additionally, it keeps an eye on factors that could affect the bank's asset-liability management, such as market conditions, legislative changes, competitor activity, and customer behavior.
The ALCO of Alfa Bank, for instance, consists of seven or more members with the power to vote for a one-year term and is chosen by resolution of the bank's executive board. The ALCO chair is chosen by the bank's executive board to lead the organization. Upon presentation to the ALCO chair, ALCO members without the right to vote are chosen from among bank managers and specialists by the bank executive board on a one-year appointment basis.
The governance structure of a financial institution must include an asset-liability committee (ALCO) to enable efficient asset-liability and risk management. In addition to assisting the institution in achieving its financial objectives, it also helps to minimize risks, maintain liquidity, and maximize profitability.