A loan approval workflow where no deal waits unseen and every vote’s reasoning is on record
No deal waits unseen, and every vote's reasoning is on record.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Software that takes a finished credit memo to a recorded decision: it routes the deal to the right approver or committee, keeps its clock, and records the vote. Loan Approval Workflow adds six agents that add up related exposure, list policy exceptions, answer committee members’ questions from the file and draft the minutes from the vote record.
How to choose AI solutions for lending →
Updated
A commercial credit is approved by whoever the board’s authority matrix names: an officer up to a limit, a credit officer above that, the senior loan committee above that, and the directors for the largest relationships and for insiders. Today the finished memo travels by email, the committee papers are re-sent each time a number changes, and members ask side questions that the analyst answers one inbox at a time. Nobody can see which deal is waiting on whom — a deal with an approver out of office can sit for a week.
Then an examiner asks why a loan was approved with three policy exceptions, and the reasoning is in six people’s mailboxes. A memo that shows the borrower’s loans but not a related entity’s sends the deal to the wrong authority. A director’s related interest missed, or a recusal not minuted, can become a Regulation O finding.
Estimated split for a commercial deal that goes to committee, by hand and with the solution. The working solution’s sample bank had a 2025 median of 16 business days.
Six specialist agents route each deal, list its exceptions and answer members' questions; the approver or committee decides and votes.
Merrow Precision Components asks Brennwood Bank & Trust for $23.0M of new money to finance its purchase of Ardent Tool & Die. The memo was finished on Wednesday; the Senior Loan Committee sits on Tuesday at 10:00. Here is what happens, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Renata opens the committee room, not a dashboard. Quorum is met — 7 of 7 confirmed, 4 needed — and all three items are inside the committee’s $40M authority. Under Merrow she sees each member’s seat and when they read the papers; Ben Castellano’s seat is marked recused, because he is the originating officer.
“2 questions open · drafts ready on item 1”
The approval board lists 14 deals waiting on a decision, $126.6M requested, by stage, each with its authority and its clock. One is past the clock: Bramblett Farm Equipment, 9 business days with Tom Pruitt against a 2-day target while he is out of office. The clock keeper offers to move it to Alicia Moreno, who has the same authority; Renata decides.
The clock keeper never reassigns a deal itself.
Two minutes after Priya Raman finished the memo, the deal router added up the relationship. The memo said $33.2M. The router found Merrow Building LLC’s $2.6M loan on the plant — same two owners, so a related interest — and the relationship is $35.8M: above Renata’s $15M, inside the Senior Loan Committee’s $40M, 51% of the legal lending limit.
The router never routes a deal below the approval authority matrix, and shows its sum line by line.
The exception checker lists each exception with its policy section: senior leverage 3.35× against 3.00× (§4.3.2), Grace Merrow’s guaranty limited to $10.0M (§5.1.4), and Corvane Aerospace at 29% of revenue (§4.6.1). Two questions came in overnight. The answerer searched 412 pages in 23 documents: manufacturing would be 112% of capital against a 150% limit, and the Corvane supply agreement passes to the combined company only with Corvane’s consent — which is not in the file.
“Answered Howard: assignment needs Corvane’s consent · consent not in the file · suggested as a condition”
Renata sends the two drafted answers to the six voting members, with their citations. Then she asks the file directly: “How much of the revolver is drawn at close?” The answer comes back pinned to the deal — $8.0M of the $9.0M revolver, so $1.0M stays available for working capital — each figure cited to the memo. The deal now reads “Ready for the vote”.
When the file does not hold the answer, it says “not in the file” and sends it to the relationship manager. It never answers beyond the file.
Corvane’s consent goes on the table as condition 4, and Renata calls the vote. Samuel Reyes, Renata and Alicia Moreno approve with conditions. Howard Stiles declines, and the reason is recorded with his vote. Three approvals of the four needed — a majority of the six voting.
Howard Stiles: “Leverage and one customer on the same deal. I would want the full guaranty.”
Mark Delacroix approves with conditions: the fourth approval. Diane Kowalczyk follows, only with Corvane’s consent before closing. The vote closes at 5–1, one recused, and the row turns green. The three exceptions go on the register with their reasons, and the minutes panel has written all seven sections from the record.
“Approved with conditions, 5–1, one recused.”
The votes view keeps what each member said, word for word: Renata — leverage is above policy but steps down within 15 months; Mark — manufacturing at 112% of capital stays inside the 150% limit; Alicia — the seller note’s standstill and payment block protect the senior position. Attendance, quorum, the recusal and the four conditions sit beside them.
The minutes drafter wrote the minutes from the recorded attendance, questions, exceptions, votes, reasons and conditions — nothing that was not recorded. Lena checked the draft against the record and sent it to the chair at 10:41. Renata signed it with the meaning “approved as a true record”.
The minutes drafter never records a vote or a reason nobody gave.
The decision record for Merrow shows 4 days from memo to decision, six decisions on the relationship since 2011, and four exceptions approved — one in 2023, three today, 5–1. Every route, question, vote and condition is on the timeline, and the whole record exports for examiners.
The same deal, seen by the people who carry it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Six specialist agents route each deal, list its exceptions and answer members' questions; the approver or committee decides and votes.
Reads each finished credit memo, adds up exposure across the relationship and its related interests, applies the approval authority matrix, books the agenda and starts the clock.
Tests the proposed structure against the credit policy and lists every exception with its section, its size and the mitigant the memo proposes.
Answers members’ questions from the memo, spreads, appraisal, quality-of-earnings report, agreements and past decisions — every sentence cited.
Checks Regulation O insiders and related interests, and each member’s conflicts and recusals, before a vote.
Watches every deal’s clock against its authority’s target, reminds the approver, and offers reassignment when the clock runs out or the approver is away.
Drafts the committee minutes from the recorded attendance, questions, exceptions, votes, reasons and conditions.
Decides and votes; the chair signs the minutes. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Approvers, members and the secretary can ask about any deal, approver, question or vote — or say what to add. Answers come from the file, with citations.
Why does Merrow go to the committee and not to me?
Because the relationship is $35.8M, not the $33.2M in the memo. The deal router added Merrow Building LLC’s $2.6M loan — Grace and Owen Merrow own it outright, so it is a related interest. That is above your $15M limit and inside the Senior Loan Committee’s $40M house limit. The three exceptions do not move it further: committees decide their own exceptions, with a reason, and report them to the board.
Which deals are past their clock, and who has them?
One: Bramblett Farm Equipment, $6.8M floor plan renewal — 9 business days with Tom Pruitt against a 2-day target. He has been out of office since Mon 5 Oct and is back on 19 Oct; the floor plan matures on 30 Oct. Alicia Moreno has the same authority and one deal waiting. I have opened the reassignment for you.
How much of the revolver is drawn at close?
At close $8.0M of the $9.0M revolver is drawn, so $1.0M stays available for working capital. The increase from $6.0M to $9.0M is part of the $23.0M request.
Add Corvane’s consent before closing as a condition
Added as condition 4: Corvane Aerospace’s written consent to assignment of the supply agreement before any funds are advanced. The agreement can only pass to the combined company with that consent, and Diane Kowalczyk said she would vote for the deal only with it. It goes to the vote with the three conditions from the memo.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
Clocks, committees, quorum and what the vote record needs are settings. Changes are versioned, need the CCO, and are on the audit trail.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Clock for an officer or senior lender | 1 day | Any number of days, set with − and + |
| Clock for a regional credit officer | 2 business days | 1 · 2 · 3 business days |
| Clock for the Chief Credit Officer | 3 business days | 2 · 3 · 5 business days |
| When a clock runs out | Remind, then escalate to the next authority | Remind only · Escalate straight away |
| Senior Loan Committee meets | Every Tuesday, 10:00 | Every Tuesday and Thursday, 10:00 · Every other Tuesday, 10:00 |
| Quorum | 4 of 7 | 5 of 7 · Majority of members |
| Agenda closes | Friday 17:00 before the meeting | Monday 12:00 before the meeting |
| A reason with every vote | Required for decline and conditions | Required for every vote |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample bank data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate · “typical” = published figures (Banking Dive, 15 Sep 2026 — 30–45 days intake to decision on a commercial credit at a typical community bank; Abrigo lending survey, 2020 — 5–7 weeks to close a commercial loan at nearly a third of institutions). Regulation O (12 CFR 215.4(b)) and the Interagency Guidelines for Real Estate Lending Policies are named as context. People, companies and the bank named on this page are fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that takes a finished credit memo to a recorded decision: it routes the deal to the right approver or committee, keeps its clock, and records the vote. Loan Approval Workflow adds six agents that add up related exposure, list policy exceptions, answer committee members’ questions from the file and draft the minutes from the vote record.
The deal router applies your board-approved approval authority matrix to the aggregate relationship exposure, related interests included. In the working solution a policy exception moves a deal one level up, as far as the CCO; risk rating 6 and worse goes to the Senior Loan Committee at any size; above the house limit the Directors’ Loan Committee decides. It never routes below the matrix.
No. The approving officer decides within their limit, and above it the committee votes by majority. The agents route, read, answer and draft; they never vote, never lower an authority and never waive an exception. The chair signs the minutes.
The committee question answerer reads the memo, spreads, appraisal, quality-of-earnings report, agreements and past decisions, and cites the document and page for every figure. When the file does not answer a question, it says “not in the file” and sends it to the relationship manager. It can suggest a condition; a person adds it.
The insider and conflict checker flags insiders, related interests and members’ conflicts before each vote; the chair rules who may vote. The originating officer presents but does not vote, and for an insider’s related interest the interested director abstains and leaves the room — recorded in the minutes.
Yes. Approval limits, clocks by authority, what happens when a clock runs out, committee dates, quorum, when the agenda closes and when a vote needs a reason are all settings. Changes are versioned, need the CCO and are on the audit trail.
Every exception enters the exception register with its policy section, its justification and the decision that approved it, aged from approval and reported to the board monthly. Supervisory LTV exceptions are tracked against total capital. The decision record for each relationship exports for examiners.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your credit policy, authority matrix, committee charter and a sample of recent deals — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own deals first.
Every related entity spread in hours, each number linked to its page.
1-min demoCredit Memo AutomationA cited first draft the same day, not after days of pasting.
1-min demoCommercial Loan OriginationFiles ready for underwriting in days, not weeks of chasing documents.
1-min demoWe’ll run Loan Approval Workflow on your own authority matrix and a sample of your recent deals.