Sallie Mae 2011 Annual Report Download - page 89

Risk Management
Our senior executive management team, individually and through participation in or more of our internal
risk management committees, are ultimately responsible for the management of risk across our businesses. Each
of these committees or their senior executive sponsors have specified periodic reporting and issue escalation
obligations to our Board of Directors and their standing committees. Our key internal risk management
committees currently include:
Disclosure Committee — reviews and approves content of periodic SEC reporting documents, earnings
releases and related disclosure policies and procedures.
Loan Loss Reserve Committee — oversees the sufficiency of our loan loss reserves and considers current
or emerging issues affecting delinquency and default trends which may result in adjustments in our allowances
for loan losses.
Critical Accounting Assumptions Committee — oversees critical accounting assumptions, as well as key
judgments and estimates, utilized in preparation of our financial statements.
Asset and Liability Committee — oversees our investment portfolio and strategy and our compliance with
our investment policy.
Corporate Credit Committee — oversees the overall credit and portfolio management strategy, policy
review and monitoring.
Corporate Compliance Committee — oversees regulatory compliance risk management activities for
Sallie Mae and its affiliates.
ICE Steering Committee — oversees our Internal Controls Excellence (“ICE”) initiative and Sarbanes-
Oxley compliance and sponsors periodic forums in which the top internal control deficiencies are discussed and
analyzed to ensure the control deficiencies are identified, understood by all relevant affected parties, and have
established resolution plans supported by adequate resources.
Customer Products and Services Assessment Committee — considers all matters relating to risks
affecting us and our wholly- and majority-owned subsidiaries associated with new, expanded, or modified
products or services and makes recommendations regarding proposed products or service offerings based on their
inherent risks and controls.
Each business segment is primarily responsible and accountable for managing risks specific to its area
utilizing formalized processes and procedures that have been developed by each division in collaboration with
internal risk management partners to identify, monitor, manage and escalate the risks specific to that business
segment’s activities. Our executive management team and internal risk management partners, including
compliance, credit risk, human resources, legal, information technology, finance and accounting, and information
security are responsible for providing our business segments with the training, systems and specialized expertise
necessary to properly perform their risk management duties.
Our Significant Risks
Significant risks may be grouped into the following categories: (1) funding and liquidity; (2) operational;
(3) political/reputational; (4) market; (5) credit; and (6) legal and compliance. More specific descriptions of the
particular risks of each type we currently face are discussed in Item 1A “Risk Factors” above.
Funding and Liquidity Risk Management
Funding and liquidity risk involves our potential inability to fund liability maturities and deposit
withdrawals, fund asset growth and business operations, and meet contractual obligations at reasonable market
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