About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

ABA Calls for Further Changes to FASB Guidelines Around Held to Maturity Securities

Subscribe to our newsletter

Following the publication of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) final guidelines for mark to market accounting and impairment earlier this week, the American Bankers Association (ABA) has raised concerns about the need for clarification around securities classified as “held to maturity”. Although the association commends the work that has been done by the FASB, it indicates that it is disappointed that the revised rules still require market losses to be recorded for “held to maturity” securities.

The FASB voted this week to approve new guidance that will provide clarification in estimating market values in illiquid markets, thus allowing more leeway for firms to value their assets based on internal models.

Edward Yingling, president and CEO of ABA, reckons the guidance will improve information for investors by providing more accurate estimates of market values. “We are pleased that FASB has now taken steps to improve the accounting for other than temporary impairment, which is generally agreed to have been problematic for many years’ earnings. Requiring that credit losses be reported in earnings provides a more realistic picture of losses,” he explains.

ABA has been campaigning for these changes to be made since March 2008, along with other lobbyists and politicians. The guidance will mean that impairment that is reflected in earnings will be more closely linked with credit losses, rather than market losses, says Yingling.

However, the association reckons that “held to maturity” securities should be subject to the same rules and is concerned about their exposure to market volatility. “To prevent further confusion as to the nature of these losses, it will be important for FASB to consider this during the next phase of its project on financial instruments,” contends Yingling.

The new rules have also come under fire from other quarters of the industry, but for the opposite reason. Some feard that the new rules will interfere with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to remove distressed assets from bank balance sheets by discouraging financial institutions from disposing of these assets.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Are you making the most of the business-critical structured data stored in your mainframes?

Fewer than 30% of companies think that they can fully tap into their mainframe data even though complete, accurate and real-time data is key to business decision-making, compliance, modernisation and innovation. For many in financial markets, integrating data across the enterprise and making it available and actionable to everyone who needs it is extremely difficult....

BLOG

Implementing and Understanding Modern Data Architectures: Webinar Preview

The evolution of data use by financial institutions has been accompanied by ever-changing challenges to its management. With technologies such as artificial intelligence enabling firms to prise greater value from their data and to subject it to greater utilisation, a new set of data management practices have emerged. These modern data architectures regard data as...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit London

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...