This paper analyzes current practices at U.S. banks for quantifying credit in retail portfolios and examines the challenges confronting banks and regulators in developing an internal ratings based (IRB) approach to setting capital requirements for retail exposures. The paper finds that...

[...]The final force of change is the continual evolution of thedelivery channels through which financial services are offered.This has occurred in many ways and in several stages. First, theuse of postal services substituted for physical market presence;this was followed by increased use of...