BANKING FOR CFOS AND FINANCIAL EXECUTIVES
Banking for CFOs and Financial Executives is a 40-module executive masterclass that teaches corporate finance leaders to understand banks the way bankers understand themselves — from the inside. The series is organized in nine stages that move systematically from the structure of the banking system through the mechanics of credit and regulation, into the discipline of corporate treasury management, international banking, financial risk management, and integrated case practice. The series begins where most corporate finance education does not: with the bank as a financial institution. The first four modules explain how banks work, how they are organized within the Federal Reserve system, and how to read a bank financial statement with the analytical depth of a bank examiner. Most CFOs manage banking relationships for years without ever calculating a bank’s CET1 ratio from its balance sheet, identifying the CRE concentration risk embedded in a Call Report, or understanding how the CAMELS examination framework shapes the decisions a bank makes about individual credits. This series changes that. Modules five through eighteen cover the financial engine of the bank and the credit products that connect it to corporate borrowers. CFOs who complete this section can explain how net interest margin is calculated, how funds transfer pricing allocates revenue across business lines, how a leveraged credit is underwritten from first principles, and how the specific provisions of a credit agreement — the covenants, the events of default, the cross-default provisions, and the representations — interact with the company’s financial condition in both normal operations and stress. These modules include detailed treatment of asset-based lending, venture debt, private credit, and the loan pricing and covenant negotiation disciplines that determine the economics of every credit facility the company will ever carry. The regulatory sections, modules nineteen through twenty-seven, cover the Basel capital framework, the bank examination process, the prompt corrective action regime, and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy cycle in a form specifically designed for corporate financial executives who need to understand how regulatory forces shape bank behavior — but who do not need to pass the Series 65 examination to do so. The module on Federal Reserve policy applies the monetary policy transmission mechanism directly to the corporate treasury: when the FOMC raises rates 75 basis points, what happens to SOFR, what happens to the company’s floating-rate credit facility, and what would a disciplined CFO have done in the prior 18 months to prepare for it? Modules twenty-eight through thirty-six constitute the corporate banking and treasury operational core of the series — the modules that most directly affect the day-to-day work of the corporate finance function. They cover banking panel architecture and the relationship economics that determine whether a bank is motivated to serve a company well, cash management and treasury optimization with specific yield-gap calculations, payments and collections infrastructure, debt and derivative accounting under ASC 815, digital banking and fintech evaluation, and banking relationship management from engagement cadence through annual review. These modules are built around Hargrove Industries, a $2.4 billion diversified manufacturer whose CFO, Sarah Chen, makes every major banking decision in real time as the modules progress. The final section of the series integrates through case practice. Two case modules — one from the banker’s perspective and one from the corporate CFO’s perspective — place the participant in the decision chair at moments of genuine consequence: a credit committee approving a leveraged exception, a workout specialist choosing between a waiver and enforcement, a CFO responding to a bank failure announcement on a Sunday evening, and a finance team racing to close acquisition financing in thirty days. The series concludes with two executive workshops — one for banking leaders and one for corporate finance teams — that convert the individual knowledge built across forty modules into institutional practice. The organizing principle of the full series is simple: banking is not a service that happens to the company. It is a strategic capability that the finance team builds, manages, and deploys. Every module is written in service of that principle.
How Banking Actually Works
This module establishes the foundational framework for understanding commercial banking as a financial intermediation system — the mechanism by which banks take deposits from savers, transform those deposits into loans and investments, and earn a spread between the rate paid on funding and the rate earned on assets. It introduces the BANK Financial Intermediation Model and applies it to Wells Fargo's balance sheet and income statement, teaching the CFO to read bank financial statements as a system rather than as a collection of accounting line items.
The Banking Ecosystem
This module maps the full architecture of the United States banking system — from national banks chartered by the OCC through state banks, thrifts, credit unions, and non-bank financial institutions. The CHARTER Classification Model provides a taxonomy for understanding how each type of institution differs in its regulatory oversight, product capabilities, and strategic orientation. The module equips CFOs to identify the type of institution in each banking relationship and understand the regulatory and behavioral implications of that classification.
Reading a Bank’s Financial Statements
This module builds the analytical framework for reading and interpreting a bank financial statement with the depth of a bank examiner. The SPREAD Analysis Model teaches the calculation and interpretation of net interest margin, the efficiency ratio, the net charge-off rate, and the return on assets and equity that together tell the story of a bank's financial performance. Applied to First Meridian Bank, the module demonstrates how standard financial ratios tell a materially different story at a bank than at an industrial company.
Bank Accounting and Financial Instrument Recognition
This module covers the GAAP accounting model that governs how banks recognize, measure, and present their financial instruments — loans, securities, derivatives, and deposits. The MEASURE Accounting Model explains the held-to-maturity, available-for-sale, and trading classification framework for securities; the amortized cost method for loans; and the CECL allowance model under ASC 326 that replaced the incurred loss model. The 2023 bank failures are analyzed through the lens of this accounting framework.
How Banks Make Money
This module dissects the bank income statement into its component revenue and cost streams — net interest income, non-interest income, provision for credit losses, and non-interest expense — and explains the economic logic behind each. The PROFIT Bank Economics Model demonstrates how the spread between asset yields and funding costs, the fee income generated by transaction services, and the loan loss provisioning cycle together determine the bank's economic performance across the credit cycle.
Asset-Liability Management
Asset-liability management is the discipline of matching the maturity, repricing, and liquidity characteristics of the bank's assets against those of its liabilities to control interest rate risk and ensure that the bank can meet its obligations under stress. The BALANCE ALM Model covers the mechanics of gap analysis, duration matching, and the net interest income simulation that banks use to model performance under different rate scenarios — the same analysis that would have revealed SVB's vulnerability two years before its failure.
Interest-Rate Risk and Duration
This module goes deeper into the mathematics and management of interest rate risk — the risk that changes in market rates will reduce the economic value of the bank's balance sheet or compress its net interest margin. The DURATION Interest Rate Risk Model explains modified duration, convexity, and basis point value as tools for measuring and managing rate sensitivity. The module connects this analysis to the corporate CFO's interest expense planning, explaining how the bank's own rate positioning affects the terms it offers on fixed and floating-rate credits.
Bank Liquidity and Funding
Bank liquidity is the ability to meet deposit withdrawals, fund new loans, and settle obligations as they come due without forced asset sales at distressed prices. This module covers the LIQUID Funding Risk Assessment Model, the Liquidity Coverage Ratio, the Net Stable Funding Ratio, and the informal liquidity analysis that community banks use in place of the formal regulatory ratios. The module teaches CFOs to evaluate a bank's liquidity position from public disclosures and Call Report data — the analysis that would have identified the deposit concentration risk at SVB before the run.
Bank Capital and Capital Adequacy
Bank capital is the equity buffer that absorbs losses before they reach depositors and the insurance fund. This module covers the Basel III capital framework — Common Equity Tier 1, Tier 1 capital, Total Capital, the capital conservation buffer, and the risk-weighting framework that converts different asset classes into risk-weighted assets. The CAPITAL Adequacy Assessment Model teaches the CFO to calculate a bank's CET1 ratio from its GAAP balance sheet, including the deductions for goodwill, DTAs, and AOCI that convert book equity to regulatory capital.
Bank Profitability and Performance Metrics
This module establishes the comprehensive performance measurement framework that bank analysts, bank management, and regulators use to assess bank financial health — the metrics that the corporate CFO should be tracking for every bank in the panel. The PERFORM Bank Performance Measurement Model covers return on assets, return on equity, net interest margin, efficiency ratio, NPL ratio, classified loan ratio, provision coverage, and the peer comparison methodology that contextualizes each metric.
Funds Transfer Pricing and Business-Line Economics
Funds transfer pricing is the internal mechanism by which banks allocate the cost of funding to asset-generating business units and the benefit of deposit-taking to funding units. Understanding FTP is essential for understanding how banks price individual credit relationships — because the FTP charge on a loan determines the minimum spread the bank must earn to cover its cost of funds. The TRANSFER Pricing Model demonstrates how FTP shapes the bank's relationship profitability calculation, with direct application to the CFO's credit negotiation strategy.
How Banks Underwrite Credit
This module establishes the foundational credit analysis framework that bank underwriters use to evaluate any corporate credit request — the framework that the CFO's own credit package must speak to persuasively to achieve approval. The CREDIT Underwriting Assessment Framework covers the Five Cs of credit, the financial covenant structure, the stress testing methodology, the collateral evaluation process, and the internal risk rating system that determines how a credit is priced and how much capital the bank must hold against it.
Commercial Lending and Credit Facilities
This module covers the full architecture of commercial credit facilities — revolving credit, term loans, delayed draw facilities, and letters of credit — including the structural provisions that govern each. The FACILITY Credit Structure Optimization Model teaches the CFO to design a credit facility for the company's specific needs, not to accept the bank's standard template. It covers the economic implications of facility size, tenor, pricing, commitment fees, and the utilization patterns that determine the all-in cost of credit.
Asset-Based Lending and Borrowing Bases
Asset-based lending is credit secured by the company's receivables and inventory, with availability determined by a formula applied to eligible collateral rather than by financial performance covenants. This module covers the BORROW Base Optimization Model, the borrowing base certificate, the field examination process, eligibility criteria and dilution calculations, and the strategic comparison between ABL and cash flow lending. The module is designed for CFOs whose companies use ABL facilities as well as those considering the switch from cash flow to asset-based credit.
Government-Supported and Small Business Lending
SBA and USDA lending programs, state economic development facilities, and CDFI financing represent a segment of the credit market that many CFOs overlook — despite the fact that government credit support can provide favorable terms, lower equity requirements, and access to capital that conventional credit cannot match. The PROGRAM Government Lending Assessment Model covers SBA 7(a) and 504 loans, USDA Business and Industry loans, and the state and local programs that supplement federal government credit support.
Venture Debt and Growth-Company Banking
Venture debt is the set of credit products designed for high-growth, venture-backed companies that do not meet traditional bank credit standards — because they have limited operating history, negative EBITDA, and no tangible collateral. This module covers the VENTURE Growth-Company Credit Assessment Model, the mechanics of revenue-based covenants, the MRR trigger structure, the warrant coverage that compensates lenders for early-stage credit risk, and the strategic comparison between venture debt and equity as financing alternatives at each stage of a company's development.
Private Credit, Direct Lending, and Non-Bank Lenders
The private credit market has grown from a niche alternative to a $1.5 trillion asset class that now competes directly with bank lending for middle-market and large-company credits. This module covers the DIRECT Lending Assessment Model, the business development company structure, the unitranche facility, the covenant-lite documentation that private credit enables, and the pricing comparison between bank and private credit across different leverage levels. The module is designed to give the CFO the framework to evaluate private credit proposals alongside bank proposals.
Loan Pricing, Covenants, and Negotiation
Loan pricing is not what the bank offers — it is the result of a negotiation shaped by the bank's relationship economics, the borrower's leverage, the credit market environment, and the CFO's preparation. The NEGOTIATE Loan Terms Optimization Model covers SOFR pricing mechanics, the all-in cost calculation, the pricing grid, the commitment fee structure, and the complete covenant negotiation framework including financial maintenance covenants, incurrence covenants, and the specific provisions that protect the borrower's operational flexibility.
Credit Risk and the Loan Portfolio
This module examines credit risk from the bank's perspective — how banks measure, monitor, and manage the aggregate credit risk in their loan portfolios. The CREDIT Risk Portfolio Assessment Model covers loan classification (pass, special mention, substandard, doubtful, loss), the classified loan ratio, the watch list management process, and the portfolio stress testing approach that regulators and bank boards use to assess the resilience of the credit book to adverse economic scenarios.
Allowance for Credit Losses and CECL
The Current Expected Credit Loss model — CECL — fundamentally changed how banks recognize loan losses by requiring forward-looking estimates of lifetime expected losses rather than incurred losses. This module covers the CECL Credit Loss Estimation Assessment Model, the economic scenario weighting approach, the segmentation of the loan portfolio for CECL modeling, and the income statement and capital implications of CECL. The module explains how CECL changes the credit cycle dynamics of bank lending — and what that means for corporate borrowers.
Basel, Risk-Weighted Assets, and the Accounting-Regulation Interface
This module bridges the gap between GAAP accounting and regulatory capital reporting — the two parallel systems that produce different numbers for the same bank balance sheet. The BASEL Regulatory Capital Interface Model covers the risk-weighting framework in detail, including the 100% risk weight for C&I loans, the 150% risk weight for ADC credits, and the credit conversion factors for off-balance-sheet commitments that create regulatory capital charges for undrawn revolvers. The Basel endgame capital framework changes are analyzed for their specific impact on corporate borrowers.
Enterprise Risk Management in Banking
Enterprise risk management in banking encompasses the full spectrum of risks that threaten the institution's safety and soundness — credit risk, market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, reputational risk, and compliance risk. The MANAGE Enterprise Risk Assessment Model covers the three lines of defense governance structure, the risk appetite framework, the ORSA process, and the specific risk categories that the OCC and Federal Reserve examine most intensively. The module explains how a bank's ERM posture shapes its behavior toward corporate clients.
Bank Stress Testing and Failure
This module covers the bank stress testing framework and the bank failure process — the mechanics of how a bank goes from a going concern to FDIC receivership and what happens to corporate borrowers and depositors in each stage of the process. The STRESS Bank Vulnerability Assessment Model establishes a corporate CFO monitoring dashboard for the early warning signs of bank stress, the PCA trigger thresholds, and the 72-hour response protocol that allows a corporate CFO to protect the company's liquidity when a banking relationship unexpectedly deteriorates.
The U.S. Banking Regulatory Architecture
This module maps the full architecture of U.S. banking regulation — the OCC, the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, the CFPB, the FHFA, and the state banking authorities — explaining the jurisdiction of each and how they interact in the regulation of a typical commercial bank. The REGULATOR Architecture Assessment Model teaches CFOs to identify which regulator governs their primary banking relationships and how the differences between regulators affect the examination process, enforcement approach, and regulatory culture of the institutions they oversee.
Banking Regulation, Safety and Compliance
This module covers the major areas of bank safety and soundness regulation — capital requirements, liquidity requirements, concentration limits, and prompt corrective action — alongside the compliance requirements that directly affect corporate banking relationships: KYC/CDD, beneficial ownership, the Corporate Transparency Act, and BSA/AML. The COMPLY Regulatory Navigation Model teaches CFOs to anticipate regulatory changes before they affect banking relationships and to prepare for compliance obligations before the bank asks.
Bank Regulatory Accounting and Reporting
Banks operate under two parallel accounting systems: GAAP for investor reporting and regulatory accounting for supervisory purposes. This module covers the specific divergences between the two systems — the goodwill deduction, the AOCI opt-out, the DTA limits, and the MSR caps that convert GAAP book equity to CET1 regulatory capital — alongside a practical guide to navigating the FFIEC Call Report database that makes bank regulatory data available to the public. The REPORT Regulatory Accounting Assessment Model builds the complete counterparty monitoring protocol.
The Federal Reserve, Monetary Policy, and the Macroeconomic Environment
The Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions are the most consequential external force acting on corporate borrowing costs. This module covers the Fed's structure, its dual mandate, and the primary tools it uses to implement monetary policy — with specific application to the corporate CFO's interest expense management. The FEDWATCH Monetary Policy Assessment Model teaches CFOs to read the FOMC statement, the dot plot, and the CME FedWatch tool to anticipate rate changes and position the balance sheet before they occur.
Corporate Banking Architecture
Corporate banking is not just a credit facility — it is the combination of credit, treasury, trade finance, FX, and advisory services that together define the total banking wallet. This module covers how banks organize their corporate banking franchises, how they measure relationship profitability, and how the BANK Corporate Relationship Architecture Model allows CFOs to design and manage the banking panel to optimize relationship quality and economics. The wallet share consolidation analysis demonstrates how product concentration at the primary bank translates directly into better credit terms.
Cash Management and Treasury Optimization
This module covers the operational discipline of ensuring that the company has the right amount of cash in the right accounts at the right time. The CASH Treasury Optimization Model addresses account rationalization, zero-balance account structures, money market sweeps, the short-term investment policy, and the banking service charge benchmarking discipline. Applied to Hargrove Industries, the module demonstrates how a treasury transformation that took six months recovered $4.8 million of annual yield improvement from idle cash sitting in low-rate bank accounts.
Payments, Collections, and Working Capital
The payments and collections infrastructure determines how efficiently a company converts revenue into cash and manages the disbursement of its obligations. This module covers the primary payment rails — ACH, Fedwire, RTP/FedNow, SWIFT, card, and check — alongside the AP payment optimization strategy that eliminates paper checks, captures virtual card rebates, and extends days payable outstanding. The PAYMENTS Infrastructure Assessment Model quantifies the working capital and rebate opportunity at Hargrove and builds the implementation roadmap.
Debt Accounting, Hedging, and Disclosure
This module covers the GAAP accounting model for corporate debt and interest rate hedging instruments — one of the most technically demanding areas of financial reporting. The HEDGE Accounting Compliance Model teaches the cash flow hedge and fair value hedge models under ASC 815, the documentation requirements that must be completed at or before the hedging transaction is entered into, and the income statement and AOCI presentation that results from a properly designated cash flow hedge. The Hargrove restatement case demonstrates the cost of the documentation requirement being missed.
Digital Banking, Fintech, and Embedded Finance
Digital banking has become a strategic capability that determines how efficiently a company manages treasury operations and how quickly it can access financial services. This module covers the API landscape, fintech lender categories and their underwriting models, embedded finance in corporate treasury, and the DIGITAL Banking Architecture Model that evaluates any fintech proposal against the traditional bank alternative. The Meridian SaaS Group case applies the framework to a real financing decision where fintech speed was worth a 125 basis point cost premium.
Managing the Corporate Banking Relationship
The corporate banking relationship is managed by the CFO, not the bank. This module covers the engagement cadence — from daily treasury operations through quarterly banking calls to the annual banking review — and the MANAGE Banking Relationship Optimization Model that evaluates all six dimensions of relationship quality. The Hargrove annual banking review case demonstrates how a formal annual review structure produced a multicurrency revolver tranche, a fee reduction, and early identification of a capacity constraint that would have become a crisis without advance planning.
International Banking and Global Treasury
International banking extends the corporate banking relationship across borders — covering cross-border payments, correspondent banking, notional pooling, intercompany lending, and the structural complexity of managing treasury for a multi-currency operating company. The GLOBAL Treasury Management Model assesses three global treasury structures — decentralized, centralized, and in-house bank — and applies them to Hargrove's international treasury transformation that recovered EUR 760,000 of annual fee and yield improvement across three European subsidiaries.
Foreign Exchange, Hedging, and Trade Finance
Foreign exchange risk creates uncertainty that can dwarf the effects of operating decisions. This module covers the three types of FX exposure — transaction, translation, and economic — alongside the hedging instruments available to corporate treasurers: FX forwards, options, collars, and natural hedges. The trade finance section covers documentary letters of credit, standby letters of credit, bank guarantees, and documentary collections. The Hargrove EUR hedging program case demonstrates how a rolling forward program would have saved $7.3 million during the 2022 EUR/USD decline.
ESG, Sustainable Finance, and Green Banking
Sustainable finance has become a structural feature of the credit market. This module covers the difference between green loans (use-of-proceeds instruments) and sustainability-linked loans (incentive-based instruments where pricing adjusts based on ESG performance), the LSTA Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles, the design criteria for credible Sustainability Performance Targets, and the disclosure obligations that accompany SLL structures. The ESG Finance Assessment Framework evaluates the net economics of any sustainable finance proposal — pricing benefit minus compliance cost.
Banking Case Studies I_The Banker Perspective
This case laboratory presents five integrated cases from the banker's perspective — the credit officer, the relationship manager, the workout specialist, the executive committee, and the bank board member. Each case places the participant in the banker's seat to reveal how institutional pressures, portfolio constraints, regulatory requirements, and internal credit culture shape banking decisions independently of the borrower's credit merit. The five cases cover a leveraged credit policy exception, a narrowing covenant, a waiver vs. enforcement decision, a CRE concentration exit, and a regulatory MRA response.
Banking Case Studies II_The Corporate CFO Perspective
This case laboratory presents five integrated cases from the corporate CFO's perspective — decisions made under time pressure, with incomplete information, and with banking relationships and financial results both at stake. The five cases cover a credit renewal negotiation that goes sideways, a bank failure on a Monday morning, an acquisition financing sprint with a 30-day deadline, an activist investor demand for a dividend recapitalization, and a subsidiary covenant breach threatening to trigger cross-default across the parent capital structure. The module closes with the series synthesis and the three-level CFO banking competency framework.
Banker Leadership Workshop
This workshop is designed for senior banking executives, relationship managers, credit officers, and board members who want to examine their own decision-making under pressure. Five sessions address: the credit committee dynamics that systematically suppress dissent and produce artificial consensus; the portfolio concentration that builds through individually justifiable decisions that are collectively imprudent; the talent acquisition risk that imports credit culture from other institutions; the distinction between board oversight and board governance in a banking institution; and the cycle-aware credit leadership disciplines that produce sound decisions at the top of the cycle when caution is most difficult.
Corporate CFO and Finance Team Workshop
This is the final module of the series — a full-day team workshop designed to be conducted with the complete finance leadership team. Five sessions move from individual banking knowledge assessment through team knowledge building, protocol documentation, and three-year strategic planning to individual development planning for each finance team member. The workshop produces the Banking Excellence Playbook: a documented banking relationship map, critical situation response protocols, the three-year banking strategy, and individual development plans. The module closes with the organizing principle of the full forty-module series.