I am looking for input on how other banks have determined appropriate individual lending authorities. Has anyone used % of legal lending limit and if so, what % did you use for each respective position (i.e. President, Chief Credit Officer, Senior Lender, Jr. Lender, etc.)?

I have never seen percentages used. I have always seen dollar amounts used.

we have set dollar limits in incremental increases (ie, $25k, $50k, $100k, etc) that graduate up based on position, tenure, area worked (retail v comm), customer/market base, etc. I would imagine dealing with percentages would be a nightmare, because technically your lending authority could change daily depending on the banks financials...

Set dollar limits here. I agree with Happy - using percentages just sounds like a nightmare.