LIQUIDITY AND FUNDING RISK
Liquidity risk is the risk that we cannot meet a demand for cash or fund our financial obligations in a cost-effective or timely manner as they become due. These financial obligations can arise from withdrawals of deposits, debt or deposit maturities or commitments to provide credit.
Risk Overview We maintain a conservative approach to managing our exposure to liquidity and funding risk, including holding a portfolio of high-quality liquid assets to allow continued operation as a going concern under stressed conditions that may be caused by CWB-specific or systemic events. This pool of high-quality liquid assets and related liquidity and funding management strategies comprise an integrated approach designed to ensure we manage liquidity risk within an appropriate threshold.
Our key risk mitigation strategies include:
• An appropriate balance between the level of risk we undertake and the corresponding cost of risk mitigation that considers the potential impact of extreme but plausible events; • Broad funding access, including preserving and growing full-service client relationships to maintain a reliable base of core deposits and continual access to diversified sources of funding; • A comprehensive group-wide contingency funding plan supported by a pool of unencumbered high-quality liquid assets and marketable securities that would provide assured access to liquidity in a crisis. Our contingency funding plan also considers access to programs put in place by the Bank of Canada to support liquidity in the financial system during times of market disruption and volatility; and, • Maintenance of a liquidity position to manage current and future liquidity requirements while also contributing to the flexibility, safety and soundness of CWB under times of stress.
For additional information, refer to the Liquidity Management section of our MD&A.
Risk Governance Liquidity risk is managed in accordance with our Liquidity Risk Management policy, which is reviewed by ALCo and the Executive Risk Committee and approved by the Board Risk Committee every three years, at a minimum. The Board Risk Committee delegates liquidity risk management authorities to senior management and our Treasury team, as the first line of defence, is responsible for managing liquidity and funding risk. ALCo provides tactical and strategic direction and is responsible for ongoing oversight, review and endorsement of operational guidelines. The Market Risk, Liquidity and Profitability Oversight function, as the second line of defence is responsible for independent oversight and reporting of liquidity risk exposure against our risk appetite to ALCo, the Executive Risk Committee and the Board Risk Committee.
Risk Management
Our Liquidity Risk Management policy establishes a target for minimum liquidity, sets the monitoring regime, and defines authority levels and responsibilities. Limit setting establishes acceptable thresholds for liquidity risk.
We actively pursue diversification of our deposit liabilities by source, type of depositor, instrument and term. Supplementary funding sources currently include securitization and capital market issuances. We maintain a pool of highly liquid, unencumbered assets that can be readily sold, or pledged to secure borrowings, under stressed market conditions or due to CWB-specific events. Our liquidity model measures and forecasts cash inflows and outflows, including any cash flows related to applicable off-balance sheet activities over various risk scenarios. Trends and behaviours regarding how clients manage their deposits and loans are monitored to determine appropriate liquidity levels. Active monitoring of the external environment is performed using a wide range of sources and economic barometers. We perform liquidity stress testing on a regular basis to evaluate the potential effect of both CWB-specific and systemic disruptions to our liquidity position. Liquidity stress tests consider the effect of changes in funding assumptions, depositor behaviour and the market behaviour of liquid assets. We stress test liquidity as per the OSFI LAR guideline. Stress test results are reviewed by ALCo and considered in making liquidity management decisions. Liquidity stress testing has many purposes, including, assisting the Board Risk Committee and senior management to understand the potential behaviour of various positions on CWB’s balance sheet in circumstances of stres s and facilitating the development of effective funding, risk mitigation and contingency plans. A contingency funding plan is maintained that defines a liquidity event and specifies the desired approaches for analyzing and responding to actual and potential liquidity events. The plan outlines an appropriate governance structure for the management and monitoring of liquidity events, processes for effective internal and external communication, and identifies potential countermeasures to be considered at various stages of an event. Treasury is responsible for liquidity risk analysis, measurement, stress testing, monitoring, and reporting to both ALCo and the Board Risk Committee. Market Risk, Liquidity and Profitability Oversight teams provide second line monitoring.
CWB Financial Group 2022 Annual Report | 53
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