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Today the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, along with other financial regulators, is offering a webinar to help financial institutions prepare for the current expected credit loss (CECL) accounting standard. NAFCU has urged the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to exempt credit unions from this standard; it is also among the association's priorities for the NCUA Board to address.

Registration for the webinar, which is slated to begin at 2 p.m. Eastern, is available here. There will also be a question and answer session; participants can submit questions in advance via rapid@stls.frb.org.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board met Wednesday and discussed a proposed update to the standard. The board decided to move forward with plans to finalize an option for preparers to irrevocably elect the fair value option for certain financial assets previously measured at amortized cost basis. FASB expects this to provide some degree of relief.

NAFCU has devoted considerable time and resources to assist credit unions with all their CECL requirement needs, while also sharing the industry's concerns with leaders at FASB. The association has also shared concerns with key decision makers and is working to obtain changes and more guidance on the standard. Financial regulators recently released a new CECL FAQ document to help institutions implement the standard. 

A number of lawmakers have also expressed concerns about the impact of the standard; it was brought up during House Financial Services Committee hearings: Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and also during a hearing yesterday on big banks, though it was noted it will likely have more of an impact on smaller institutions.