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Introducing Omega Performance’s New Microlearning!

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Introducing OmegaExpress Microlearning

Omega Performance has a new feature available for learners who have access to our four core credit courses. OmegaExpress, our new microlearning platform, allows learners to access quality credit training anywhere, any time, and on any device, enhancing sustainment of knowledge and encouraging learning extension.

Deployed from the same Learning Management System as our eLearning courses, OmegaExpress features “bite-size,” 2- to 5-minute microlessons that supplement the content in Business Lending Fundamentals, Commercial Loans to Small Business, Commercial Loans to Business, and Financial Accounting for Lenders. Our microlessons are easy to navigate, with two ways to advance from page to page and a progress bar that lets learners how far along they are.
OmegaExpress includes four learning libraries:

• In My Experience: Listen as experienced lenders discuss the deals that kept them up at night, and the things they would do differently if they could turn back the clock.

• Acumen Builder: Build credit skills and knowledge with interactive microlessons that expand on the concepts covered in our industry-leading eLearning courses.

• Ask the Expert: Instantaneously tap into our experts by exploring the answers to learners’ most frequently asked questions.

• Dynamic Dictionary: Explore a searchable repository of lending-related terms, complete with interactive explanations, illustrations, and examples.

Watch this video for more information and to see OmegaExpress in action.

Omega Performance's OmegaExpress Microlearning

The post Introducing Omega Performance’s New Microlearning! appeared first on Omega Performance.


Get to Know the OmegaExpress Learning Libraries

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Get to Know the OmegaExpress Learning Libraries

OmegaExpress is an innovative credit training solution that delivers bite-size microlearning straight to business lenders’ mobile devices and desktops. Learn more about the four learning libraries that comprise this solution below, and more about OmegaExpress in general here.

In My Experience

No one becomes a business or commercial lender overnight. It takes years of hard work, including successes and failures. In our In My Experience library, seasoned lenders share stories about their own successes and failures, and the lessons they learned when the lending relationships they helped to build took unexpected turns.

Each of their stories is linked to concepts covered in our core credit courses, helping learners connect what they’ve learned to its real-world application. Topics range from the importance of succession planning to the dangers of inadequate due diligence, and each story concludes with a helpful summary of the lender’s lessons learned.

Ask the Expert

All learners enrolled in our credit eLearning courses have access to our Email-a-Mentor tool, which allows them to reach out to our subject matter experts and ask them questions as they complete training.

Our Ask the Expert library features in-depth answers to the questions our mentors receive most frequently, like “What’s the relationship between sales growth and accounts receivable?” and “What’s the relationship between sales growth and inventory?”

Each of these microlessons also describes how the knowledge can be applied on the job, and a short quizto help learners confirm their understanding.

Acumen Builders

Acumen Builders expand on the concepts covered in our Business Lending Fundamentals, Commercial Loans to Small Business, and Commercial Loans to Business courses to help learners further develop their skills and knowledge.

Each of these 2- to -5 minute microlessons begins with a description of the topic and objective. Series of microlessons are built around topics like collateral evaluation, working capital, and EBITDA. Each microlesson also explains how achieving the objective can help lenders on the job, and ends with a short quiz to confirm the learner’s understanding.

Dynamic Dictionary

The Dynamic Dictionary is a searchable repository of lending-related terms, from accrued expenses to working investment and dozens in between. Unlike a typical glossary, the Dynamic Dictionary defines terms using interactive explanations and illustrations, and (where applicable) formulas, calculations, and explanations of their relevance to help learners deepen their understanding.

Want to learn more about OmegaExpress and see it in action? Request a live demo today!

The post Get to Know the OmegaExpress Learning Libraries appeared first on Omega Performance.

Moody’s Acquires Omega Performance, Enhances Online Credit Training Platform

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From www.moodysanalytics.com

NEWS | For Immediate Release

NEW YORK, August 7, 2018 — Moody’s Corporation (NYSE:MCO) announced today that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Omega Performance, a leading provider of online credit training.

Founded in 1976 and based in Arlington, Virginia, Omega Performance is a business unit of TwentyEighty Inc. It offers a wide range of online credit training courses to clients worldwide and serves more than 300 customers, ranging from large global banks to local lending institutions.

“Omega Performance is widely recognized for its robust credit training capabilities, which complement the industry-leading learning solutions offered by Moody’s Analytics,” said Ari Lehavi, Executive Director, Learning Solutions at Moody’s Analytics. “Adding Omega’s offerings reinforces Moody’s Analytics as a market standard in credit proficiency for financial institutions worldwide spanning the full spectrum of consumer, small business and corporate lending.”

Omega’s rich repository of lending case studies will significantly enhance the highly-regarded Moody’s Analytics online Credit Coach learning platform, which empowers financial professionals to make better lending decisions by providing a learning experience that is customized to each user’s specific analytical needs. Using sophisticated algorithms that track respondents’ performance as they study real-life business scenarios, Credit Coach guides each learner through targeted coursework designed to remediate indicated areas of weakness. With the addition of Omega’s case studies and content, Credit Coach will provide an even broader range of credit and risk scenarios facing today’s lending and investment professionals.

Both Moody’s clients and Omega’s clients will greatly benefit from the synergies of the combined organization. By using a consistent framework across the institution, banks can systematically and efficiently train their staff, certify their proficiency, and benchmark the performance of both individuals and business units.

“This acquisition is an important development for financial institutions in search of a modern and comprehensive learning platform with a globally recognized credit certification to help elevate lending and risk management practices to compete and navigate more effectively in a rapidly evolving marketplace. The combined capabilities of Moody’s Analytics and Omega Performance offers a best-in-class, cost-effective solution to these challenges,” said Lehavi.

The acquisition is expected to close within 30 days and is not expected to have a material impact on Moody’s 2018 financial results.

For further information about Moody’s Analytics eLearning solutions, visit www.moodysanalytics.com/elearning-courses.

ABOUT MOODY’S CORPORATION 
Moody’s is an essential component of the global capital markets, providing credit ratings, research, tools and analysis that contribute to transparent and integrated financial markets. Moody’s Corporation (NYSE: MCO) is the parent company of Moody’s Investors Service, which provides credit ratings and research covering debt instruments and securities, and Moody’s Analytics, which offers leading-edge software, advisory services and research for credit and economic analysis and financial risk management. The corporation, which reported revenue of $4.2 billion in 2017, employs approximately 12,300 people worldwide and maintains a presence in 42 countries. Further information is available at www.moodys.com.

ABOUT TwentyEighty 
TwentyEighty is a portfolio of some of the most respected learning, development, and performance improvement brands in the industry, including Miller Heiman Group, VitalSmarts, AchieveForum, Strategy Execution & Omega Performance. www.twentyeighty.com

“Safe Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements and are based on future expectations, plans and prospects for Moody’s business and operations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof, and Moody’s disclaims any duty to supplement, update or revise such statements on a going-forward basis, whether as a result of subsequent developments, changed expectations or otherwise. In connection with the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Moody’s is identifying certain factors that could cause actual results to differ, perhaps materially, from those indicated by these forward-looking statements. Those factors, risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, credit market disruptions or economic slowdowns, which could affect the volume of debt and other securities issued in domestic and/or global capital markets; other matters that could affect the volume of debt and other securities issued in domestic and/or global capital markets, including regulation, credit quality concerns, changes in interest rates and other volatility in the financial markets such as that due to the U.K.’s referendum vote whereby the U.K. citizens voted to withdraw from the EU; the level of merger and acquisition activity in the U.S. and abroad; the uncertain effectiveness and possible collateral consequences of U.S. and foreign government actions affecting credit markets, international trade and economic policy; concerns in the marketplace affecting our credibility or otherwise affecting market perceptions of the integrity or utility of independent credit agency ratings; the introduction of competing products or technologies by other companies; pricing pressure from competitors and/or customers; the level of success of new product development and global expansion; the impact of regulation as an NRSRO, the potential for new U.S., state and local legislation and regulations, including provisions in the Financial Reform Act and regulations resulting from that Act; the potential for increased competition and regulation in the EU and other foreign jurisdictions; exposure to litigation related to our rating opinions, as well as any other litigation, government and regulatory proceedings, investigations and inquires to which the Company may be subject from time to time; provisions in the Financial Reform Act legislation modifying the pleading standards, and EU regulations modifying the liability standards, applicable to credit rating agencies in a manner adverse to credit rating agencies; provisions of EU regulations imposing additional procedural and substantive requirements on the pricing of services and the expansion of supervisory remit to include non-EU ratings used for regulatory purposes; the possible loss of key employees; failures or malfunctions of our operations and infrastructure; any vulnerabilities to cyber threats or other cybersecurity concerns; the outcome of any review by controlling tax authorities of the Company’s global tax planning initiatives; exposure to potential criminal sanctions or civil remedies if the Company fails to comply with foreign and U.S. laws and regulations that are applicable in the jurisdictions in which the Company operates, including data protection and privacy laws, sanctions laws, anti-corruption laws, and local laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials; the impact of mergers, acquisitions or other business combinations and the ability of the Company to successfully integrate acquired businesses; currency and foreign exchange volatility; the level of future cash flows; the levels of capital investments; and a decline in the demand for credit risk management tools by financial institutions. Other factors, risks and uncertainties relating to our acquisition of Bureau van Dijk could cause our actual results to differ, perhaps materially, from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including risks relating to the integration of Bureau van Dijk’s operations, products and employees into Moody’s and the possibility that anticipated synergies and other benefits of the acquisition will not be realized in the amounts anticipated or will not be realized within the expected timeframe; risks that the acquisition could have an adverse effect on the business of Bureau van Dijk or its prospects, including, without limitation, on relationships with vendors, suppliers or customers; claims made, from time to time, by vendors, suppliers or customers; changes in the European or global marketplaces that have an adverse effect on the business of Bureau van Dijk. These factors, risks and uncertainties as well as other risks and uncertainties that could cause Moody’s actual results to differ materially from those contemplated, expressed, projected, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements are described in greater detail under “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017, and in other filings made by the Company from time to time with the SEC or in materials incorporated herein or therein. Stockholders and investors are cautioned that the occurrence of any of these factors, risks and uncertainties may cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those contemplated, expressed, projected, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements, which could have a material and adverse effect on the Company’s business, results of operations and financial condition. New factors may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict new factors, nor can the Company assess the potential effect of any new factors on it.

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The post Moody’s Acquires Omega Performance, Enhances Online Credit Training Platform appeared first on Omega Performance.

What’s the Cost of a Problem Loan?

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What’s the Cost of a Problem Loan?

A business owner comes in to your financial institution seeking a $2 million loan. She meets with one of your lenders, the underwriting process is completed, and the loan is approved. But what steps are you taking to ensure that your staff is appropriately evaluating industry, management, and operational risks, and thoroughly assessing the business’s financial condition? And what might it cost your organization if you don’t take those steps?

When a loan becomes problematic, it can be easy to blame the borrower, but a lack of experienced, properly trained staff, able to identify—and successfully mitigate—risks before they are realized, can also be to blame. How much can a lack of experience and training affect your bottom line?

To put it in perspective, think about the amount of new business your organization will have to generate to recoup the loss of principal (not to mention, the loss of interest and loss of opportunity) from just one charged-off loan. That amount can be expressed in the following formula:

NEW LOAN = CHARGE-OFF AMOUNT / PRETAX PREPROVISION MARGIN

Let’s imagine that $1 million of our business owner’s $2 million loan ultimately had to be charged off (and let’s assume a typical pretax preprovision margin of 2.5%). The lender would need to book $40 million in new loans ($1,000,000 / 0.025) just to earn back the principal on that one charge-off.

Now think about your loan volume and pretax preprovision margin. How long will it take your organization to recoup that loan loss?

To help reduce the number of loans that become problematic and affect your bottom line, make sure that you set aside adequate funding for training and that you equip your lenders and underwriters with the credit skills they need to successfully evaluate loans and mitigate risks. Omega Performance offers both foundational and advanced credit skills training courses to help your organization succeed in a competitive marketplace. Contact us today to learn more!

The post What’s the Cost of a Problem Loan? appeared first on Omega Performance.

Post-Training Survey Results Released

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Post-Training Survey Results Released

Our annual Training Effectiveness Benchmarking Report summarizes real data from real learners around the globe who have taken one or more of our seven most popular eLearning courses. This year’s report includes information from our post-training survey—and a  follow-up survey conducted six months later—to provide a more in-depth picture of the effectiveness of our credit skills training courses.

After participants complete an Omega Performance course, they have the opportunity to take a brief survey that asks them to rate the course, whether they think the course will help them with their job, whether they would recommend the course to a colleague, what they liked about the course, and what could be improved.

97 percent of those who completed the initial post-training survey, said that the course they took applied to their jobs, 94 percent said that they would recommend the course to a colleague, and 94 percent said that the course was worth their time.

“The material was helpful for real-world applications,” one participant wrote.

After analyzing these results, we wanted to gain deeper insights into how our courses help participants over the long term. We created a follow-up survey—which we emailed to participants who had completed the initial post-training survey—and asked them for specifics on how they had applied their learning on the job and what positive business outcomes had resulted from their training. We also asked them to rate the course again, and whether they would still recommend the course to a colleague.

In our follow-up survey, 98 percent of respondents said that the training helped them do their jobs, and 93 percent said that they would recommend the course to a colleague. Respondents also reported positive business outcomes, including improved confidence, promotions, an increase in loan approvals, better customer relationships, more effective customer conversations, and more efficient processes.

“It helped me with the business conversation when sitting down with clients,” one participant wrote.

Want to get more-specific insights on the knowledge gained in each of our seven most popular eLearning courses? View course-specific survey results, global benchmarking data, and participants’ key takeaways by downloading our 2018 Training Effectiveness Benchmarking Report.

Get the 2018 Training and Effectiveness Benchmarking Report today!

The post Post-Training Survey Results Released appeared first on Omega Performance.

Does Your Bank Struggle to Find and Keep Quality Commercial Credit Analysts?

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Does Your Bank Struggle to Find and Keep Quality Commercial Credit Analysts?

Commercial credit analysts are in high demand. Smaller banks and credit unions in particular struggle to find and keep good candidates.

Business People Walking Out

Compounding the issue are two factors:

  1. Rurally-based banks—especially those with less than $10 billion in assets—don’t offer recent graduates and millennials the draw of “big city lights” that they’re so often seeking.
  2. Many baby boomers are on the verge of retirement, and when they leave, they’ll take with them their wealth of knowledge about your organization’s clients, processes, and procedures.

These are challenges, to be sure. But the key to overcoming them lies in seeing them as opportunities as well.

First, consider that the credit analysts you’re looking for may already be part of your team—loyal, trusted employees who are already a part of your community’s fabric. While they may be in other roles now, Omega Performance can teach them what they need to know to grow and succeed as analysts. Find out how one community bank used our blended learning solutions to do just that.

Second, consider maximizing your near-retirement lenders’ knowledge and experience by asking them to help you prepare your next generation of lenders. Omega Performance offers robust mentoring tools that your organization’s coaches and experienced lenders can use to help you train new hires and existing employees to someday fill their shoes.

Contact us today and we will help you build a program to develop your commercial credit analysts.

The post Does Your Bank Struggle to Find and Keep Quality Commercial Credit Analysts? appeared first on Omega Performance.

Our 2018 Highlights

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Our 2018 Highlights

2018 has been quite a successful year for Omega Performance, and we look forward to continuing to help your organization thrive as you continue to implement our industry-leading training solutions.

Office People Jumping for Joy

Here are some of our highlights from 2018:

  • In February we released our Effective Credit Conversations course to help your lenders bridge the gap between the credit conversation and the sales conversation.
  • In April we hosted a webinar to help teach you how to turn credit skills into meaningful conversations with your clients.
  • In June we released a video to explain how we are implementing adaptive learning in our courses, and how that will benefit your learners.
  • In August, we released our brand new microlearning solution, which will engage your learners while they are on the go through a mobile app, helping them not only to sustain their knowledge but to further build and practice their skills.
  • Our biggest news of the year is that we were acquired by Moody’s Analytics this August, which will help organizations to elevate lending and risk management practices to compete and navigate more efficiently in a rapidly evolving marketplace.
  • In September we released our 2018 Benchmarking Report, which included post-course survey data showing the effectiveness of our eLearning courses.
  • In December, we released an Australia-specific version of Consumer Lending to help personal bankers follow not just the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law.

We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2019 as we embark upon our new journey as part of the Moody’s Analytics family.

 

 

 

The post Our 2018 Highlights appeared first on Omega Performance.

The Importance of the Operating Cycle in Understanding a Business’s Story

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The scenario: A potential customer wants a line of credit to support his business selling concert t-shirts.

Knowing Your Customer or KYC is extremely important to prevent fraud and comply with regulations. KYC also enables you to provide your customers with superior service as you evaluate and assess potential loan and other non-credit opportunities—and the potential risks involved. Deep knowledge of a customer helps you determine the right solutions for the customer—and even whether your organization should pursue a lending relationship with him or her. What is an efficient, effective way to get to know a business customer? Ask questions tied to the business’s operating cycle!

When you get to know the business using the operating cycle as your guide, you focus on four key steps—how they purchase, produce, sell, and collect. These steps help you visualize how the business actually works.

For example, do they simply purchase completed t-shirts, mark the price up, and sell them outside of a concert venue to concert goers for cash or credit? This retailer would probably have very simple needs—most likely a small line of credit and an operating account.

But what if the business manufactures and distributes the t-shirts? In this case, the customer would be purchasing fabric, cutting the shirts to size, sewing them and adding concert decals on the front, then shipping goods to warehouses for distribution to large retail chains and collecting on invoices. This is a much more complex business that may require a variety of loans as well as treasury management and deposit products.

Each type of business has different risks—and different needs. If you don’t probe any further than what the customer tells you upfront, you can miss the mark with both the risk and the opportunity.

By asking good questions that are tied to the steps of the operating cycle you will gain a clear vision of what you need to do. This will allow you to better serve both your business customers and your financial institution.

Omega Performance’s core credit courses use the operating cycle to help you gain an understanding of the businesses that you work with and ask the right questions so that you can understand the larger picture. Contact us today to learn more!

The post The Importance of the Operating Cycle in Understanding a Business’s Story appeared first on Omega Performance.


Practicing Responsible Consumer Lending in Australia

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The National Consumer Credit Protection Act was amended and in force as of 1 January 2019, with new regulations to help ensure that lenders follow responsible consumer lending practices.

What is your financial services organization doing to ensure that you are in step with following these new regulations?

Omega Performance recently launched an Australia-specific version of Consumer Lending. We also offer a one-module Consumer Lending Regulatory Obligations course, which explores the National Consumer Credit Protection Act and its provisions, as well as other legislation and codes of practice that impact consumer credit policy throughout Australia.

The key course objectives are to:

  • Recognise the purpose and key provisions of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act
  • Identify the types of credit the National Consumer Credit Protection Act applies to
  • Identify the roles of the credit provider, credit assistance provider, and credit representative
  • Identify the agencies that administer and enforce consumer-lending related legislation, and their roles
  • Recognise and identify the purpose of other legislation, including the Privacy Act, Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, ePayments Code, and anti-discrimination legislation, that impacts your interactions with consumer loan applicants
  • Identify the requirements of responsible lending, as defined by the National Consumer Credit Protection Act
  • Recognise what are considered “reasonable inquiries” about a consumer’s financial situation, requirements, and objectives
  • Identify the steps to take to help confirm that a loan is “not unsuitable” for the consumer
  • Identify the disclosures a borrower must be given and when
  • Identify how and when a consumer may apply for a hardship variation, as defined by the National Consumer Credit Protection Act

The course has two lessons, that are further broken out into modules.

The Regulatory Environment

The Regulatory Environment explores the key provisions of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, and describes the Australian Securities and Exchange Commission’s role in administering and enforcing it. It then describes other laws—as well as industry codes of practice—that impact consumer lending policies and processes, and identifies the roles of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. Finally, it introduces the Australian Financial Complaints Authority as the country’s independent external dispute resolution scheme.

Responsible Lending and Hardship

Responsible Lending and Hardship further examines the responsible lending obligations set out in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act, including the information a lender must gather and assess to make reasonable inquiries about a customer’s financial situation, requirements, and objectives, and verify a customer’s income and expenses. It then introduces the questions a lender must affirmatively answer to determine that a credit contract is “not unsuitable” for a customer and describes the various disclosures that must be made to a customer both before and after a loan is approved. Finally, it describes the circumstances in which a customer can apply for a hardship variation to the loan agreement, and the steps a lender is required to take to evaluate the request.

Here’s a printable flier on the Consumer Lending Regulatory Obligations course module. Learn more about our Australia Consumer Lending course modules here.

The post Practicing Responsible Consumer Lending in Australia appeared first on Omega Performance.

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