Accounting & Regulatory Advice

Even if the wave of regulation resulting from the 2008 financial crisis is currently abating somewhat, the number of new requirements for banks in the area of supervisory law and accounting remains high. In addition to challenges in operational implementation, these often lead to considerable strategic implications for existing business models.

This applies both to new international and national accounting standards (e.g. implementation of IFRS 9, IFRS 15, IFRS 16, BilRuG) and to publications by standard setters in banking supervisory law (e.g. completion of Basel III, creation of a new resolution regime, combating money laundering, amendments to MaRisk, expansion of the reporting system under COREP and FINREP). There are many indications that accounting and regulatory issues will continue to be a top priority for CFOs and CROs in the coming years.

In practice, difficulties often arise when reconciling the different perspectives of accounting and regulatory (e.g. reporting of financial information, prudent valuation of financial instruments, provisioning for non-performing loans). The implementation of the legal framework can often only be effectively resolved at the interface between the two disciplines. This requires detailed knowledge of the now extremely comprehensive and complex body of regulations as well as knowledge of the interaction between regulatory and commercial law perspectives. This applies to the increasing links between Pillars I to III of supervisory law (capital adequacy and liquidity, supervisory review processes, disclosure), between international and national accounting and between supervisory and commercial law per se.