SMA ACCOUNTS - ECONOMY

News: ARCs want banks to sell loan accounts showing signs of incipient stress

 

What's in the news?

       Recently, Asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) want banks to sell bad loans at an incipient stage as the scope for recovery is brighter.

 

SMA Accounts:

       Special Mention Accounts are those assets/accounts that show symptoms of bad asset quality in the first 90 days itself or before it being identified as NPA.

 

 

Introduced by:

       The classification of Special Mention Accounts (SMA) was introduced by the RBI in 2014, to identify those accounts that have the potential to become an NPA/Stressed Asset.

 

Types of Special Mention Accounts:

       SMA 0: Loan principal or interest is unpaid for 0 – 30 days from its due date.

 

       SMA 1: Loan principal or interest is unpaid for 31 – 60 days.

 

       SMA 2: Unpaid for 61–90 days.

 

Go back to basics:

Types of Stressed Assets:

Sub-standard Assets:

       If the borrower fails to repay the installment, interest on principal or principal for 90 days the loan becomes NPA and it is termed as Special Mention Account (SMA).

       If it remains SMA for a period less than or equal to 12 months it is termed as Substandard Assets.

 

Doubtful Assets:

       If the Sub-standard assets remain so for 12 months or more, then it would be termed as Doubtful Asset.

 

Loss Assets:

       If the loan is not repaid even after it remains substandard for more than three years it would be called as loss Asset.

 

Written Off Assets:

       Written off assets are those on which the bank or lender doesn’t count the money the borrower owes to it.