Europe Decides Against Softening Accounting Rules for Banks (1)

European Union officials are holding off on loosening accounting rules for banks as they gauge the impact of a raft of relief measures before taking further action.

The officials had been discussing options to ease the burden of new rules to help the banking sector deal with the coronavirus crisis, including a temporary suspension of the framework. Introduced in 2018, the regulations known as IFRS 9 force banks to make provisions for bad loans at an earlier stage than in the past.

For now, legal changes don’t appear to be necessary, according to an official involved in the talks who ...