FASB Urged To Drop Credit Impairment Plan

A Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) proposal that would change the methodology for recognizing credit impairment would be detrimental to the credit union system and could have serious, unintended consequences for borrowers and the economy, the Credit Union National Association warned Wednesday and urged the accounting board to abandon the plan.

The FASB proposal is “the most critical regulatory concern credit unions have faced in quite some time, including rules or proposals that have been issued under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,” CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney underscored in a letter to the board.

The FASB has proposed an accounting standards update regarding financial reporting of expected credit losses on loans and other financial assets held by financial institutions, including credit unions. The proposed model would utilize a single “expected loss” measurement for the recognition of credit losses. It would replace the multiple existing impairment models in U.S. generally accepted accounting principles that generally use an “incurred loss” approach.

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