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IFRS 9 Financial Instruments issued on 24 July 2014 is the IASB's replacement of IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement. The Standard includes requirements for recognition and measurement, impairment, derecognition and general hedge accounting. The IASB completed its project to replace IAS 39 in phases, adding to the standard as it completed each phase.

The version of IFRS 9 issued in 2014 supersedes all previous versions and is mandatorily effective for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2018 with early adoption permitted (subject to local endorsement requirements). For a limited period, previous versions of IFRS 9 may be adopted early if not already done so provided the relevant date of initial application is before 1 February 2015.

 

IFRS 9 does not replace the requirements for portfolio fair value hedge accounting for interest rate risk (often referred to as the ‘macro hedge accounting’ requirements) since this phase of the project was separated from the IFRS 9 project due to the longer-term nature of the macro hedging project which is currently at the discussion paper phase of the due process. In April 2014, the IASB published a Discussion Paper Accounting for Dynamic Risk management: a Portfolio Revaluation Approach to Macro Hedging. Consequently, the exception in IAS 39 for a fair value hedge of an interest rate exposure of a portfolio of financial assets or financial liabilities continues to apply.

 

The implementation of IFRS 9 entails fundamental changes in the accounting practices of financial instruments. Banks and financial institutions are most affected by the changes and must apply the expected- credit- loss model to financial assets. Banqsoft's software suites supports the new IFRS 9 reporting principles.