Risk Analytics The credit risk decision discipline.
RAROC = (Income - EL - Cost) / Capital

The single metric that makes pricing honest.

Risk-adjusted return on capital is what turns rating and expected loss into a decision.

Net income from the deal, minus the loss it is expected to produce, minus the cost to run it, divided by the capital the institution must hold against it.

The number that goes into committee. The number that compares deals across segments and tenors on the same scale.

We learn more about the concept of calculating capital requirements in our credit risk analytics class in the Financial Skills Campus.

In this phase

From a structured deal to a comparable return.

Five activities. One number that pricing, capital allocation, and the Risk Appetite Statement all anchor on.

01

Pull income

Margin times exposure plus fees. Net of funding cost.

02

Subtract EL

From Phase 2. The risk cost of the deal.

03

Subtract operating cost

Allocated origination, monitoring, and servicing.

04

Allocate capital

Risk-weighted exposure times institution CET1 target.

05

Compare to hurdle

Pass or decline. Or reprice. Or ask for more collateral.

Try it

One number that holds the whole stack.

Set income, expected loss, operating cost, and capital. The calculator runs the RAROC line and shows the result against the hurdle rate. Move the rating a notch and watch PD shift EL, and EL shift RAROC. The discipline pricing committees rely on, visible in three minutes.

Featured demo · live

Q-Lana RAROC Calculator

The full numerator and denominator side by side. Income minus EL minus operating cost in the numerator. Risk-weighted capital allocation in the denominator. RAROC compared to a configurable hurdle rate. Includes a rating sensitivity panel so a one-notch shift produces a visible decision change. Built for credit committees and pricing meetings that want the math at the table.

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The toolkit

Five signature tools.

Phase 3 instruments turn the EL output of Phase 2 into a comparable return metric, then into a pricing or decline decision. The arithmetic is visible at the deal table, not buried in committee paperwork.

Tool 01

Income Build-up Sheet

Margin, fees, ancillary income, net of funding cost. Source for the RAROC numerator. Standardised across product types so deals compare on the same basis.

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Tool 02

Capital Allocation Engine

Maps risk-weighted exposure to required capital using the institution's CET1 target. Handles Standardised and IRB approaches. Source for the RAROC denominator.

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Tool 03

RAROC Calculator

The arithmetic engine. Combines income, EL, cost, and capital into a single return-on-capital figure. Sensitivity tabs show how the answer moves when rating shifts a notch or pricing changes ten basis points.

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Tool 04

Hurdle & Pricing Logic

Compares RAROC against the institution's hurdle rate (typically a CET1-aligned target). Returns one of three signals: pass, reprice, or decline. Pre-built into deal-flow templates.

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Tool 05

Portfolio RAROC View

Aggregated RAROC by segment, sector, and rating bucket. The cockpit Pricing Committee uses to decide where the institution is earning its capital and where it is not.

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The principle

Q-Lana on RAROC.

Capital is finite, and RAROC tells you where to spend it. Put one risk-adjusted number in front of the deal team and pricing stops rewarding volume and starts rewarding return on the capital the institution must hold.

Christian Ruehmer, Co-Founder, Q-Lana

Across Q-Lana

Related

Two places RAROC shows up next.

Why this matters

Capital is finite. RAROC tells you where to spend it.

Two deals can have identical margins and produce wildly different returns on capital. RAROC is the metric that surfaces the difference. It disciplines pricing, focuses capital on the segments that earn it, and gives the Risk Appetite Statement an empirical basis. Without it, growth and quality compete. With it, they align.

For CROs, CFOs, and Heads of Pricing

Walk us through how RAROC reaches the deal table.

Thirty minutes. We compare your income build-up, capital allocation, hurdle logic, and portfolio view against what we have built and recalibrated across more than a hundred portfolios.

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