AUSTIN, Texas – It isn’t just credit unions scrambling to get up to speed on the new current expected credit loss (CECL) standard from FASB.
The 2019 CECL Survey conducted by Abrigo shows as the Q1 2020 compliance date nears for SEC-filing institutions, progress is being made across the board – but not fast enough.
“The clock is ticking,” said Regan Camp, senior director of Advisory Services at Abrigo (formerly MST, Sageworks, and Banker’s Toolbox). “While many financial institutions are taking the necessary steps to make sure they are prepared for this important change in accounting for credit losses, it’s clear that others are falling behind their peers.”
One area of concern, according to Camp, is the limited number of SEC-filing institutions that have produced results and are now running parallel CECL-compliant allowances in preparation for 2020. Despite the fact that institutions have been encouraged to plan for at least four quarters of parallel execution in order to offer enough time to observe a series of results and calibrate their models, only 14% of SEC registrants surveyed are currently running parallel allowances. Even more concerning, there are still 3% of SEC registrants that acknowledged having yet to begin CECL preparations at all, Abrigo reported.
No Single Approach
In addition to gauging financial institutions’ preparedness for the transition, Abrigo said it also assessed the personnel involved in CECL preparations, the depth and breadth of data collected, and the methodologies financial institutions are considering using under CECL during the survey. The survey showed differing results between SEC filers, community and mid-market banks, and credit unions.
“The array of methodologies selected by financial institutions suggests that there really is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to achieve CECL compliance,” Abrigo said in releasing the survey. “The survey shows a well-distributed spread across the available methodologies being chosen, suggesting that institutions are carefully assessing what estimation method is most appropriate for their own circumstances.”