Blog · Territory, capacity and quota planning · Commercial banking
How a commercial bank reads utilisation of its committed credit facilities per customer from the facility register and the balance file: drawn against limit, the trend over four quarters, the customers at persistently low utilisation paying commitment fees on lines they do not use, the customers near the limit who will ask for more or go elsewhere, and the relationship reading each pattern supports.
A bank's undrawn commitments are a line in the treasury report. Per customer, they are a hundred relationships in which the customer is paying for capacity it does not use, and another fifty in which the customer is about to run out. The facility register and the balance file separate them. This guide sets out utilisation per facility, the two patterns, and the reading each supports.
Per facility, per month:
Utilisation = drawn balance ÷ committed limit
Per customer, per quarter:
Average utilisation across committed facilities, weighted by limit Trend over four quarters Commitment fees paid on undrawn capacity
Customer and facility identifiers only.
drawn ≤ limit, per facility per month, unless an excess is recorded
An overdrawn facility with no recorded excess fails it and is listed; it is a credit event before it is a utilisation reading.
| Pattern | Test | Reading | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Persistently low | Under 20% for 4 quarters, fee-bearing | Paying for unused capacity; right-size or reprice | Relationship manager |
| Persistently high, growing | Over 85% for 2+ quarters, revenue rising | Needs more; growth conversation | Relationship manager, credit |
| Persistently high, shrinking | Over 85%, revenue falling | Stretched; credit conversation | Credit |
| Volatile | Swings across the range | Seasonal or working capital; expected | Nobody, unless the swing changed |
| Customer | Facilities | Limit | Avg utilisation | 4 quarters ago | Fees on undrawn | Revenue trend | Pattern |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4471 | 2 | $8.0m | 9% | 11% | $29,000/yr | Flat | Low: right-size |
| 2210 | 1 | $5.0m | 91% | 62% | +18% | High, growing: offer more | |
| 9034 | 3 | $12.0m | 88% | 71% | −14% | High, shrinking: credit | |
| 1187 | 1 | $3.0m | 45% | 50% | Flat | Normal |
Customer 4471 has paid twenty-nine thousand dollars a year for four years for a facility it barely draws. It will notice at renewal, and a competitor will offer a smaller line at a lower fee. Customer 2210 has gone from two thirds to nine tenths drawn while growing; it needs a bigger line and will get one somewhere.
Per relationship manager: customers in each pattern and the fees on undrawn capacity across the book. Per segment: average utilisation trended, which is a demand-for-credit signal the treasury report already has, now with the customers behind it.
Utilisation as one number. The average of the low and the high is normal.
Fees on undrawn not shown. The relationship manager does not know what the customer is paying for nothing.
High utilisation read without revenue. Growth and distress look the same.
Overdrafts floored. An excess is a credit event, not a utilisation of 100 percent.
Mapped once, the facility register, the balances and the customer master produce utilisation, the trend, the patterns and the per-manager view every quarter. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The commercial banking page describes the setup, and the deposit flight guide covers the other balance-sheet signal read per customer.
Below a stated share of limit, say 20 percent, for four consecutive quarters, on a facility with a commitment fee. It is on the report with the fee the customer is paying for the unused capacity, because that fee is what the customer will notice at renewal.
Above a stated share, say 85 percent, for two or more quarters. It is on the report with the customer's revenue trend, because a growing customer near its limit is an opportunity and a shrinking one near its limit is a credit question, and the two need different people.
No. Customer and facility identifiers, limits, balances, fees and the relationship manager. The reading is done on identifiers; the relationship manager has the name.