CFO Focus: The Dreaded ALCO Meeting
Transform it to one that is always standing-room-only by shifting the balance to focusing more on strategy and less on position analysis.
I recently had a first-time asset/liability committee meeting with a new client. The meeting was scheduled for 90 minutes, with the idea it would give us enough time to establish appropriate perspective and focus, assess the risk position, identify key issues and discuss tailored strategies that fit their profile. Frankly, 90 minutes was cutting it close, especially for a first meeting.
The day before the meeting, the CFO requested we trim it down to just 45 minutes.
“Generally, our ALCO meetings go 30 minutes,” the CFO said. “I don’t think we can keep the team interested much longer than that.”
My response was that the team had invested a lot of resources to implement important changes into the ALCO process and get to this first meeting—and that the return on investment could not be fully monetized in just 45 minutes.
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