CAMELS

A key component of a supervisory exam is a supervisory rating of a bank’s overall condition, commonly referred to as a CAMELS rating. This rating system is used by the three federal banking supervisors (Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Company, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency) and other financial supervisory agencies to provide a convenient summary of bank conditions at the time of an exam. The acronym “CAMELS” refers to the six components of a bank’s condition that are assessed: Capital Adequacy, Asset Quality, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity.