= Members Only Content
Certified Lender Business Banker (CLBB)
About CLBB | Apply | Exam Information | Exam Outline | Benefits | Maintain Certification | Advisory Board
CLBB exam
- Registration
- Fees
- Exam dates
- Outline and knowledge areas
- Format and length
- Exam preparation
- Scoring and reporting
- Retakes
- Examination Misconduct
| Examination Fees* | Membership Fees** | ||
| Application and Exam Fee | $295 | Annual Membership Fee | $199 |
| Exam Retake Fee | $150 | Multiple Certification Discount | $350 (2 certs.) $450 (3 or more) |
| Exam Withdrawal Fee | $125 | ||
* Exam Fee is 100% refundable upon written request prior to the published withdrawal deadline. A $125 withdrawal fee is assessed if a candidate cancels or withdraws after the published withdrawal deadline from a scheduled exam date for which the candidate is registered. However, requests for withdrawal received on or less than fourteen (14) business days prior to the exam date will not be honored and the entire exam fee will be forfeited. ICB will consider waiving the forfeiture fee in case of a medical emergency. Your request for such a waiver must be made in writing and supported by documentation from a physician, which clearly states that you are unable to appear for the exam due to personal or immediate family medical issues. Requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
**Membership Fee is assessed annually every year after certification has been granted.
Individual Proctored Exam*** Individual Proctored Exam***
Exam Date
Exam Site
Application
Due DateWithdrawal
Deadline
Fri, 10/21/11
Tue, 9/6/11
Mon, 9/12/11
Fri, 4/27/12
ABA Nat'l Commercial Lending School
Dallas, TXMon, 2/27/12
Mon, 3/5/12
Fri, 10/19/12
Mon, 8/20/12
Mon, 8/27/12
***Individual proctored exam means that the candidate has the option of taking the exam at his/her company with an ICB-certified member serving as exam proctor. Another option is for ICB to locate an exam site that is within 2 hours driving time from the candidate's company.
Credit Analysis
You must have a thorough understanding of accounting, evaluation of repayment ability (using historic and projected financial information in addition to non-financial factors such as management ability, ownership and organization), cash flows, collateral and guarantees.
Laws, Regulations & Ethics
You must understand the entire spectrum of federal laws and regulations, the Uniform Commercial Code, lender liability, environmental liability, bankruptcy and ethics.
Products & Services
You must possess knowledge of both credit and non-credit products and services that relate to business customers as well as identification of prospects and sales/negotiation techniques.
Loan Structuring
You must have knowledge of how to identify and select appropriate loan structures, repayment sources, pricing, collateral, covenants and conditions, documentation and credit enhancements.
Problem Assets
You must know the "early warning" symptoms of problem assets, how to develop workout strategies, how to re-evaluate collateral, how to classify a loan as well as allocation parameters for reserves and bankruptcy repercussions.
Click here to see sample questions from the CLBB certification examination.
An exam development team continuously creates new questions for consideration. The appropriate advisory board members review each question for relevance, content and difficulty.
ICB employs psychometricians to ensure that each question is complete, fair and measures only the required knowledge areas. In addition, the psychometricians along with the advisory board members ensure the exam's validity. A question is not considered for inclusion until one, right, clear answer has been identified, all cultural, geographical or organizational biases have been removed and details related to minutiae have been eliminated.
Some questions contain graphics or case studies, which you must review and resolve. Several questions may be based on a single piece of information. Some questions may contain a superlative (i.e. MOST), a pejorative (i.e. LEAST), or a negative (i.e. NOT) to recreate some types of decisions that you may confront.
While ICB recommends these resources for appropriate examination preparation, ICB does not guarantee that you will pass the exam by completing these educational programs or studying these materials alone. The CLBB exam assesses not only your knowledge of the topics on the exam outline, but also your application of that knowledge. You should refer frequently to the CLBB exam outline when preparing for the exam.
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Analyzing Financial Statements, American Institute of Banking (AIB)
- Economics: Fundamentals for Financial Services Providers, AIB
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Commercial Loan Analysis: Principles and Techniques for Credit Analysts and Lenders, Probus Publishing (To order, visit http://www.half.com)
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Commercial Loan Documentation, Practicing Law Institute (To order, visit http://www.amazon.com/)
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The Art of Commercial Lending, Edgar M. Morsman, Jr. (To order, visit http://www.amazon.com/)
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Commercial Loan Portfolio Management, Edgar M. Morsman, Jr. (To order, visit http://www.amazon.com/)
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Managing Credit Department Functions: A Manager's Guide to Improving Loan Analysis, Documentations, and Reporting, Probus Publishing (To order, visit http://www.half.com/)
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Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans (Visit http://www.sba.gov/services/index.html)
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You can read your organization's lending policy/procedural manual.
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It may be helpful to speak with your peers and supervisor to learn of any information tools available.
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ICB provides a mentor program for persons preparing for an ICB exam. Please contact ICB at icb@aba.com for more information.
Certified members are willing to serve as exam preparation mentors. Upon request, the ICB will assign a mentor after we have received your application to sit for the exam. Contact Sandra Williams, ICB Director for Exams, at 202-663-5066 or icb@aba.com for more information.
Scores are processed and communicated in writing within four to six weeks of the exam date. All scores are kept confidential and only you will be informed of your score. You must sign an Examination Score Release Form to authorize a third party to receive your score results.
All ICB exams are electronically scored using advanced methods of statistical analysis. Scores are recorded based on a "Pass/Fail" system. The advisory boards determine the exam's pass/fail standard using a criterion-referenced methodology, which defines the performance standard and degree of difficulty for each item. Your score is based on your personal performance measured against these standards, not based on a composite "grade curve" for a group or date.
All questions for an exam are scored three times: once by scanner and twice by computer. During the scoring process, a variety of electronic and manual quality controls are conducted to ensure accuracy.
Upon receiving your score, you may appeal it if you feel an error has been made by requesting a hand scoring within 30 days of the postmark date on your score report. A $75 fee is assessed for hand scoring. To request a hand scoring, please address your written request to: ICB, 1120 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 600, Washington, D.C. 20036, Attn: Exam Manager. Requests for hand scoring must include: your name, examination date, the fee and an explanation as to why you are requesting that a hand scoring be performed. A response to your request will be sent to you within 14 business days upon receipt of your request. Requests submitted without the fee will be returned. Requests received more than 30 days after the postmark date of your exam score report will be returned. Should a discrepancy between the results of the hand scoring and the computer scoring be revealed, the hand scoring results will prevail.
Your exam performance in each of the knowledge areas will be provided in your exam score report. This information will assist you in identifying those areas in which to place emphasis during preparation, if you elect to retake the exam.
There is no limit to the number of times you can take the exam. However, all exam retakes must occur on an individual proctored examination date only. You must pass the exam within a three (3) year period from the date of your first exam attempt. The appropriate fee must be submitted for each retake 45 days prior to the scheduled date of the retake exam.
All persons taking one of ICB's examinations are expected to abide by all rules and regulations governing the examination before, during and after the examination. Possession of copies of any current or previous examination given by ICB is not authorized and is a violation of ICB's rules governing certification exams. Persons taking ICB certification examinations are not permitted to take notes about the examination.
