CAMELS Law and Legal Definition
The term CAMELS signifies a rating system used by federal government examiners to evaluate the safety and soundness of a savings association or a bank. CAMELS is an acronym for the six elements that are evaluated: Capital, Assets, Management, Earnings, Liquidity and Sensitivity to risk. Each of these elements is rated on a scale of 1 to 5, and an overall CAMELS rating is assigned to the institution following an examination. A rating of 1 indicates the best performance, and a rating of 5 shows the worst performance.