Banks and EBA join forces over liquidity buffer accounting

Banks and industry groups have been joined by an unlikely ally in their protests about the accounting treatment of assets held in liquidity buffers – the European Banking Authority. By Lukas Becker and Matt Cameron

Simultaneous changes to bank capital rules and accounting standards have left banks between a rock and a hard place. Basel III removes a filter that previously insulated bank capital from unrealised gains and losses on hundreds of billions of dollars of bonds that, for accounting purposes, are classified as available for sale (AFS). Meanwhile, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is tightening rules on another category – amortised cost – into which banks might otherwise have moved