Bank Regulators Concerned by ‘Double Count’ Accounting Plan (1)

A US accounting standard-setter plan to change how banks record losses on loans they buy or acquire in a merger would reduce transparency in financial statements and encourage banks to overstate losses, regulators said Monday.

“We have several concerns,” said Amanda Freedle, chief accountant at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency at an American Institute of CPAs banking conference in Oxon Hill, Md. Freedle shared the dais with the chief accountants from the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.