IIF Authors

Status: Will be live at 07/21/2016 00:00

Response to the BCBS CD Guidelines: Prudential treatment of problem assets

Thursday, July 21, 2016

The IIF and the industry generally have supported the principle of harmonization of financial definitions and reporting. The Basel Committee's proposed definitions of "non-performing assets" and "forbearance" are intended to assist consistent supervisory and market understanding of banks' exposures and policies for dealing with them. The proposal, however, raised many questions, notably about how the proposed definitions were intended to relate to existing accounting and risk definitions. There was concern that, because of differences from existing usages, the proposal could end up increasing the volume and complexity of disclosures, rather than advancing comparability. A number of technical issues also raised questions. The IIF letter therefore suggested further stakeholder consultations to assure that consensus is reached on common definitions before the proposal is finalized.