Model Validation

High-quality, cost-effective model risk management services

Speak with an Expert

Advance Your Model Validation Practices

Guided by an industry-led Advisory Council, RMA’s Model Validation team combines RMA’s 100+ years of experience in advancing sound risk management principles with deep knowledge and expertise in all phases of model risk management.

Model Validators on staff

Total Validations performed over the past 10 years

Years of experience

Creative & Scalable Ideas

Outsourced and co-sourced model validation, re-validation, and reviews. Creation and fine-tuning of new and existing model risk management programs that meet regulatory guidelines while considering the size and risk profile of your banks and its models

Collaborative Validations

Identification of institutions that use a common vendor model and execution of the validation work on behalf of all institutions, providing greater transparency and reduced costs. Experience matters when it comes to risk model validation. With increased regulatory scrutiny and extraordinary advances in machine learning, model risk managers are challenged more than ever to build and retain strong teams to meet demand. RMA Model Validation provides holistic solutions built by bankers, who are available on-demand to help you overcome your biggest risk challenges

"I was really impressed by the final report; it was thorough and well written.
Your team also managed the project well and always kept me updated on their status."

$15 billion fintech-focused bank

Model Validation Types

CECL Modeling and Accounting

Test your current approach to PD, LGD, EAD, PPNR, and IFRS 9/CECL.
BSA/AML and Fraud

Stay consistent with the latest development of the OCC 2011-12, SR 11-7, and DFS-504 guidelines.
ALM and Liquidity Risk

Manage data and configure your sensitivity and stress testing assumptions.
Credit/Prepayment Risk

Analyze your loan roll rates and payment timelines with precision.
Market Risk

Comply with Basel – FRTB and revisit your VaR, pricing and hedging models.
Operational Risk

Prevent operational losses from internal system failures or external events.
Strategic Risk

Understand your strategic risks and how they are embedded in your organization’s performance metric.
Wealth Management

Identify and manage risk exposures effectively for your asset management arms and retail clients.

Meet the Team

Management Team

Edward J. DeMarco, Jr., Esq., Managing Director, Advanced Risk Services & General Counsel, RMA

Edward J. DeMarco, Jr. is the Managing Director of Advanced Risk Services and General Counsel of The Risk Management Association, a not-for-profit professional association headquartered in Philadelphia. DeMarco leads RMA’s climate, model, and operational risk practices.

He received a B.S. in accounting from Villanova University and his J.D. from Saint Louis University, where he served as Articles Editor of the Saint Louis University Law Journal.

He has been interviewed on topics such as cybersecurity and third-party risk management by The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, The Economist, American Banker, and Bank Director.

Education

J.D. from Saint Louis University

B.S. in accounting from Villanova University
Management Team

Will Kutteh, Senior Manager of Risk Services, RMA

Will Kutteh is the Senior Manager of Risk Services at RMA, leading the organization’s model risk management community of interest, the Model Validation Consortium. He has over a decade of experience in the financial services industry, with a focus on enterprise risk and model risk management. He has performed validations of models used in credit analysis, interest rate risk management, liquidity measurement, CCAR stress testing, and CECL.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), CECL, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Credit Scoring, Market Risk, and Model Risk Governance

Education

M.B.A. from Wake Forest University School of Business

B.A. in economics from Wake Forest University
Model Risk Experts

Kevin D. Oden, Ph.D., Managing Partner, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Kevin Oden is the founder and managing partner of Kevin D. Oden & Associates (KDOA). Oden has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, including multiple senior executive risk roles at large financial institutions. Oden has focused on model risk throughout his career, both from a development and oversight capacity, including building and overseeing the model risk function at a large US bank.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) / Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Fraud, CECL / IFRS 9, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Derivatives Pricing, Market Risk, Operational Risk, Stress Testing and Model Risk Governance

Education

Ph.D. in mathematics from University of California, Los Angeles

B.B.A. in operations research from Cleveland State University

B.S. in mathematics from Cleveland State University
Model Risk Experts

Diego Alvarez, Senior Quantitative Analyst, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Diego Alvarez is an economist with more than 15 years of experience, including 10 years in the financial services industry and five years working within economic fields. Alvarez specializes in the validation of market and credit risk models with recent work on CECL, home mortgage, ALM, and integrated stress models. Alvarez has a B.S. and M.S. in economics from the University of Buenos Aires and the University of San Andres as well as a post-graduate degree in quantitative finance from the University of Center for Macroeconomic Studies of Argentina (UCEMA). His thesis analyzed the most popular machine learning algorithms (such as logistic regression, Decision Trees, Random Forests, AdaBoost, and Gradient Boosting). He is currently completing a systems analyst course on the use of Artificial Intelligence and has extensive experience using Java, SQL, and Python. His current focus includes QRM, Empyrean, AD&Co, and credit models, including credit scoring, CECL, and capital stress testing.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), CECL / IFRS 9, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Market Risk, and Stress Testing

Education

M.S. in economics from the University of San Andrés, Argentina

Quantitative finance post-graduate program from the UCEMA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

B.S. in economics from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Model Risk Experts

Maia Berkane, Ph.D., Partner and Head of Analytics, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Maia Berkane has more than 25 years of experience in the banking and financial services industry. Berkane led model development efforts in asset management, mortgage prepayments, market risk management, and in compliance with a focus on fair lending analytics. She has developed innovative approaches recognized as effective by the CFPB for fair lending analysis and review, as well as techniques for handling missing data and regime shifts in market data analysis.

Practice Areas

CECL / IFRS 9, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Fair Lending, Market Risk, Operational Risk, and Stress Testing

Education

Ph.D. in mathematical statistics from Paris-Sorbonne University

B.S. in mathematics from the University of Algiers
Model Risk Experts

Carolina Biagini Majorel, Senior Quantitative Analyst, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Carolina Biagini Majorel is a seasoned economist with over seventeen years of experience in the financial industry. Biagini’s expertise lies in model risk management, encompassing risk modeling, validation, and model governance. She has a strong background in both quantitative and qualitative models and hands-on experience in managing projects to ensure successful delivery of high-quality output compliant with regulatory requirements.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), Capital Stress Testing (CCAR/DFAST), CECL / IFRS 9, Climate Risk, Credit Risk and Loss Forecasting, and Model Risk Governance

Education

Post graduate certificate in quantitative finance from UCEMA, Argentina

M.S. in economics from Torcuato di Tella University, Buenos Aires, Argentina

B.S. in economics from the National University of Rosario, Argentina
Model Risk Experts

Greg Brozak, Ph.D., Senior Quantitative Analyst, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Greg Brozak is a quantitative finance professional with more than 30 years of experience in developing and validating financial and risk management models across a wide range of product types and risk factors. Brozak has broad experience in model risk management and model governance. He has led model development and model risk teams at large financial organizations. Brozak’s areas of model expertise include mortgage and credit models, interest rate/ALM modeling, stress testing, operational risk models, and climate risk models.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), CECL / IFRS 9, Climate Risk, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Market Risk, Operational Risk, Stress Testing, and Model Risk Governance

Education

Ph.D. in physics from Northeastern University

M.A. in physics from the University of Buffalo

B.A. in physics and mathematics from Queen’s College CUNY

Professional Certifications

Financial Risk Manager (FRM) from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP)

Sustainability and Climate Risk Certification (SCR) from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP)
Model Risk Experts

Estella Chu, Senior Quantitative Analyst, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Estella Chu has provided a broad range of risk management services to large financial institutions relating to risk governance, limits setting, financial instruments valuation, risk modeling, risk reporting, and Basel II/III regulatory compliance services. She specializes in quantitative modeling including technical and data validation applicable to market risk, credit risk, and counterparty credit risk and led many projects to help clients establish sound risk management and carry out model risk management and related internal audit programs. Her recent areas of focus include ALM, CECL / IFRS 9, credit, prepayment risk, market risk, liquidity risk, operational risk, and risk-weighted capital models.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), CECL / IFRS 9, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Liquidity Risk, Market Risk, and Risk-Weighted Capital

Education

M.B.A. in finance and IT from Indiana University

B.A. in computer science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Professional Certifications

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from the CFA Institute

Financial Risk Manager (FRM) from the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP)

SAS Certified Professional: Advanced Programming Using SAS 9.4 certification
Model Risk Experts

Pablo Macri, Ph.D., Senior Quantitative Analyst, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Pablo Macri has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, academia, and research in finance and physical sciences. In finance, he has primarily focused on risk management, risk/derivative pricing systems, and machine learning/ artificial intelligence development. Macri has recently led validation projects for asset/ liability management, BSA / AML and fraud models based on machine learning, artificial intelligence, and other cutting-edge analytics.

Practice Areas

Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) / Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Fraud, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Derivatives Pricing, Market Risk, and Operational Risk

Education

Ph.D. in physics from the Balseiro Institute, Argentina

M.S. in physics from the Balseiro Institute, Argentina
Model Risk Experts

Len Mills, Ph.D., Senior Quantitative Analyst, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Leonard Mills is a Senior Quantitative Analyst at KDOA. Mills has more than 30 years of experience in model development and validation. Prior to joining KDOA, he worked at the Federal Reserve, Fannie Mae, and Wells Fargo, as well as consulted for a variety of financial institutions. Mills has extensive experience with credit risk/CECL, ALM, mortgage analytics, and mortgage hedging validations, as well as stress testing framework validations, including familiarity with AD&Co, MCT, QRM, and Moody’s Analytics.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), CECL / IFRS 9, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Derivatives Pricing, Market Risk, and Stress Testing

Education

Ph.D. in economics from Tulane University

B.S. in mathematics from Hampden-Sydney College

Professional Certifications

Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from the CFA Institute

Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF) from the CQF Institute
Model Risk Experts

Gaston Romeo, Ph.D., Senior Quantitative Analyst, Kevin D. Oden & Associates

Gaston Romeo has more than 15 years of experience in quantitative solutions, mathematical modeling, numerical simulation, artificial intelligence, data science, and programming endeavors for top tier financial institutions and global analytics companies, national councils, and scientific collaborations worldwide. He has led multiple projects within the banking industry as part of model validation, corporate model risk, and front office group. Romeo’s particular areas of model expertise are credit risk models, including CECL/IFRS 9, ALM, market risk, and stress testing.

Practice Areas

Asset Liability Management (ALM), CECL / IFRS 9, Credit and Prepayment Risk, Market Risk, Stress Testing, and Model Risk Governance

Education

Ph.D. in physics from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

M.S. in physics from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Highlights and Analysis from RMA’s Second Model Risk Management Survey

July 13, 2023

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An RMA survey report out this summer details the current state of model risk management, from the typical ratio of model development vs. model validation staffers, to challenges regarding vendors, to the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence in models.