Joe Kennerson
The Dreaded ALCO Meeting

I recently had a first-time ALCO meeting with a new client. The meeting was scheduled for 90 minutes, which gave 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-time 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 their team had invested a lot of resources to implement important change into their ALCO process and get to this first meeting – and that the return on investment could not be fully monetized in just 45 minutes.
“Let’s try to stick to the 90 minutes and see how it goes,” I responded.