FDIC publishes its 2024 Risk Review
On May 22, the FDIC published its 2024 Risk Review which summarized emerging risks in the U.S. banking system in 2023 across five broad categories: credit risk, market risk, operational and cyber risks, climate-related financial risk, and crypto-asset risk. The risk review paid particular attention to risks that may affect community banks. Among other issues to be aware of, the report noted banks continue to be targeted by ransomware threat actors. These cyber threats require banks to continuously improve cybersecurity and other internal controls to effectively combat cyber threats and mitigate the risk of a significant service disruption. The FDIC also reported that economic conditions were strong, and despite a period of stress in early 2023, the banking industry demonstrated resilience. By the end of the year, “overall asset quality metrics were favorable, and liquidity stabilized.” The report also noted that credit risk differed across loan categories, with commercial real estate and consumer loans seeing more asset quality decline. While the commercial real estate sector stayed strong overall, office and retail mall markets struggled. The FDIC remarked that the ability to refinance commercial real estate loans remained a challenge to the industry due to high interest rates, softening property values, and emerging credit weakness.