Build a Credit Analyst Claude Project with Your Bank's Policies

What This Does

Claude Projects let you load your bank's credit policy manual, loan grading guidelines, and underwriting standards as persistent context. Every conversation in the project has access to these documents, so you can ask "does this deal meet our policy minimums?" and get answers grounded in your actual credit standards, not generic banking practices.

This is the credit analyst equivalent of having your policy manual open all the time, but actually reading it for you.

Before You Start

• You have Claude.ai Pro (Projects require Pro)
• You have your bank's credit policy manual or relevant sections as PDFs or text
• Check with compliance: confirm it's approved to upload policy documents to a cloud AI tool
• Clear any documents of any confidential borrower information first

Setup Steps

1. Create a new Project

• In Claude.ai, click Projects in the left sidebar
• Click New Project
• Name it something like "Credit Analysis: [Bank Name] Policy"

2. Add your bank's documents

Click Add content in the Project knowledge section. Upload:

• Credit policy manual (or the relevant sections: loan grading, DSCR requirements, concentration limits)
• Loan grading definitions (Pass, Special Mention, Substandard, etc.)
• Any sector-specific underwriting guidelines (CRE, C&I, SBA)
• Your loan covenant standard terms reference

3. Write a Project instruction

In the Project instructions field, write:

You are a commercial credit analysis assistant for [Bank Name]. The bank's credit policy documents are loaded in this project.

When I ask credit analysis questions:
- Reference the bank's specific policy standards and minimums
- Flag when a deal I describe would not meet policy minimums
- Point to the relevant section of the credit policy when applicable
- Never fabricate policy standards — if you don't see it in the documents, say so

Always maintain confidentiality and do not share policy details outside this context.

4. Test with a sample credit

Start a conversation and paste in a deal summary. Ask: "Does this credit meet our minimum underwriting standards? What sections of the policy apply?"

How to Use It Day-to-Day

Pre-approval compliance check:

Here is a deal I'm preparing to present. Review it against our credit policy and flag any areas where we are outside policy minimums or where I'll need a policy exception:

Borrower: [Company Name]
Industry: [Industry]
Request: [$X, loan type]
DSCR: [X.Xx]
Leverage: [X.Xx]x
Collateral coverage: [X]%
Guarantor net worth: $[X]M

Loan grading question:

Based on our loan grading policy, what risk rating should I assign to the following credit? Provide the rating and cite the specific criteria from our policy that support it.

[Paste credit summary]

Covenant structure help:

I'm structuring covenants for a [loan type] deal for a [industry] borrower. Based on our standard covenant language and this borrower's financials, suggest appropriate covenant levels and reference our policy requirements.

Tips

• Update the project documents when your bank issues policy amendments. Stale documents give wrong answers.
• Add a "Project instructions" note reminding yourself when documents were last updated: "Policy manual uploaded: March 2025, version 4.2"
• Use this project for all credit analysis conversations to build up a log of deal questions and answers
• Keep a separate project for each major loan type if your bank has significantly different policies for CRE vs. C&I

All credit decisions require human review and approval per your bank's approval authority matrix. This tool assists analysis; it does not approve loans.