Credit risk management in bank: Impacts of IFRS 9 and Basel 3

Abstract

The expected loss approach (ECL) defined by IFRS 9 replaced the old incurred loss approach (IAS 39) in the international accounting standard setter. In Europe, the IFRS 9 are accompanied by new regulatory frameworks (BCBS), opinion, technical standards (EBA) which do not always provide the same methodological and operational implications of the accounting standard setter. Many aspects of IFRS 9 have been studied, but this paper analyzes its interdependencies and overlaps with the credit risk framework for financial intermediaries (also Basel 3). Using a case study, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the ECL, its main impacts on coverage ratio of a loan’s portfolio. The main findings are: usually, the rules laid down for Stage 1 of IFRS 9 do not reduce the excess coverage produced on a portfolio in bonis; in the presence of impaired loans IAS 39 generates a lack of funds; the lifetime ECL (Stage 2 of IFRS 9) imposes excess of provisions because it does not consider the effect of coverage produced by expected premiums; for loan portfolios with short repayment times, the excess of provisions produced by IFRS 9 compensates the lack of coverage of the capital requirement. From the academic research perspective, this paper contributes to the literature on ECL model in several ways. First, it adds knowledge to the research on the relationship between Credit Risk Management framework and accounting standard IFRS 9. Second, it also links our findings related to ECL approach with potential implications for the financial sector, policymakers and regulators.