A Simulation Study of Basel II Expected Loss Distributions for a Portfolio of Credit Cards

Credit scoring models have been used traditionally as the basis of decisions to reject or accept credit applications. They are also used to categorize applicants or existing accounts into risk groups. Based on estimates of probability of default, the risk groups may seem well separated. However, by considering distributions on risk elements such as model estimation uncertainty, exposure at default and loss given default, a simulation approach is used to compute Basel II expected loss distributions for a portfolio of credit cards. These show that discrimination between risk groups is not as clear as is immediately suggested simply by probability of default estimates. Based on these distributions, we also show that measuring extreme credit risk with Value at Risk can lead to considerable underestimation if distributions on these risk elements are not entered into the computation.