The American Bankers Association has issued a new discussion paper on the Current Expected Credit Loss standard aimed at educating bank investors, board members and auditors on what to look for under the new standard and the challenges bankers will have in addressing common questions from these stakeholders. While most of the CECL implementation work in the industry has focused on performing CECL calculations, the association noted that “many bankers may then find additional challenges in designing systems that will inform investors and board members of the credit risk inherent in their loan and debt security portfolios and the changes in credit risk that have taken place during the period.”
The paper — along with ABA’s other resources on CECL — can be found online at aba.com/CECL. Bankers can also join the ABA CECL Network, an online discussion forum where bankers can share successes and challenges of CECL implementation. In addition, sessions at the upcoming ABA CFO exchange — to be held Sept. 17-19 in Austin, Texas — will focus on the standard. A hands-on pre-conference workshop will help community bank CFOs understand how to address each of the Q-factors and provide new analytical tools they can take back to their bank to help board members understand credit risk in a CECL environment.
