4.8 Financial assets and liabilities

Financial assets and liabilities

Recognition and initial measurement

 

The Group initially recognizes loans and advances, deposits, debt securities issued and subordinated liabilities on the date on which they are originated.

All other financial instruments (excluding regular way purchases and sales of financial assets) are recognised on the trade date, which is the date on which the Group becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. All regular way purchases and sales of financial assets are recognised on the settlement date, i.e. the date the asset is delivered to or received from the counterparty. Regular way purchases or sales of financial assets are those that require delivery of assets within the time frame generally established by regulation or convention in the marketplace.

 

Classification and subsequent measurement

 

On initial recognition, a financial asset is classified as measured at: amortised cost, FVOCI – debt investment, FVOCI – equity investment, or FVTPL.

Financial assets are not reclassified subsequent to their initial recognition unless the Group changes its business model for managing financial assets, in which case all affected financial assets are reclassified on the first day of the first reporting period following the change in the business model.

A financial asset is measured at amortised cost if it meets both of the following conditions and is not designated as at FVTPL:

• it is held within a business model whose objectives is to hold assets to collect contractual cash flows; and
• its contractual terms give rise on specified dates to cash flows that are solely payments of principal and interest on the principal amount outstanding.

A debt investment is measured at FVTOCI if it meets both of the following conditions and is not designated as at FVTPL:

• it is held within a business model whose objectives is achieved by both collecting contractual cash flows and selling financial assets; and
• its contractual terms give rise on specified dates to cash flows that are solely payments of principal and interest on the principal amount outstanding.

On initial recognition of an equity investment that is not held for trading, the Group may irrevocably elect to present subsequent changes in the investment’s fair value in OCI. This election is made on an investment-by-investment basis.

All financial assets not classified as measured at amortised cost or FVTOCI as described above are measured at FVTPL. On initial recognition, the Group may irrevocably designate a financial asset that otherwise meets the requirements to be measured at amortised cost or at FVOCI as FVTPL if doing so eliminates or significantly reduces an accounting mismatch that would otherwise arise.

 

Financial assets – Business model assessment

 

The Group makes an assessment of the objective of a business model in which a financial asset is held at a portfolio level because this best reflects the way the business is managed and information is provided to management. The information considered includes:

• the stated policies and objectives for the portfolio and the operation of those policies in practice. In particular, whether management’s strategy focuses on earning contractual interest revenue, maintaining a particular interest rate profile, matching the duration of the financial assets to the duration of the liabilities that are funding those assets or realising cash flows through the sale of the assets;
• how the performance of the portfolio is evaluated and reported to the Group’s management;
• the risks that affect the performance of the business model (and the financial assets held within that business model) and how those risks are managed;
• how managers of the business are compensated – e.g. whether compensation is based on the fair value of the assets managed or the contractual cash flows collected; and
• the frequency, volume and timing of sales in prior periods, the reasons for such sales and its expectations about future sales activity.

 

Transfers of financial assets to third parties in transactions that do not qualify for derecognition are not considered sales for this purpose, consistent with the Group’s continuing recognition of the assets.

Financial assets that are held for trading or are managed and whose performance is evaluated on a fair value basis are measured at FVTPL.

 

Financial assets – Assessment of whether contractual cash flows are solely payments of principal and interest (“SPPI”)

 

For the purposes of this assessment, ‘principal’ is defined as the fair value of the financial asset on initial recognition. ‘Interest’ is defined as consideration for the time value of money and for the credit risk associated with the principal amount outstanding during a particular period of time and for other basic lending risks and costs (e.g. liquidity risk and administrative costs), as well as profit margin.

In assessing whether the contractual cash flows are SPPI, the Group considers the contractual terms of the instrument. This includes assessing whether the financial asset contains a contractual term that could change the timing or amount of contractual cash flows such that it would not meet this condition.

In making the assessment, the Group considers:

• contingent events that would change the amount and timing of cash flows;
• leverage features;
• prepayment and extension terms;
• terms that limit the Group’s claim to cash flows from specified assets (e.g. non-recourse asset arrangement); and
• features that modify consideration of the time value of money (e.g. periodical reset of interest rates).

 

 

The Group holds a portfolio of long-term fixed-rate loans for which the Group has the option to propose to revise the interest rate at periodic reset dates. These reset rights are limited to the market rate at the time of revision. The borrowers have an option to either accept the revised rate or redeem the loan at par without penalty. The Group has determined that the contractual cash flows of these loans are SPPI because the option varies the interest rate in a way that is consideration for the time value of money, credit risk, other basic lending risks and costs associated with the principal amount outstanding.

 

Reclassification

Financial assets are not reclassified subsequent to their initial recognition, except in the period after the Group changes its business model for managing financial assets.

 

Derecognition

 

The Group derecognizes a financial asset when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the financial asset expire, or it transfers the rights to receive the contractual cash flows in a transaction in which substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership of the financial asset are transferred or in which the Group neither transfers nor retains substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership and it does not retain control of the financial asset.

On derecognition of a financial asset, the difference between the carrying amount of the asset (or the carrying amount allocated to the portion of the asset derecognized) and the sum of (i) the consideration received (including any new asset obtained less any new liability assumed) and (ii) any cumulative gain or loss that had been recognized in OCI is recognized in profit or loss.

Any cumulative gain/loss recognized in OCI in respect of equity investment securities designated as at FVOCI is not recognized in profit or loss on derecognition of such securities. Any interest in transferred financial assets that qualify for derecognition that is created or retained by the Group is recognized as a separate asset or lability.

If the Group enters into transactions whereby it transfers assets recognized on its statement of financial position but retains either all or substantially all of the risks and rewards of the transferred assets or a portion of them. In such cases, the transferred assets are not derecognized.

When assets are sold to a third party with a concurrent total return swap on the transferred assets, the transaction is accounted for as a secured financing transaction similar to sale-and repurchase transactions, because the Group retains all or substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership of such assets.

In transactions in which the Group neither retains nor transfers substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership of a financial asset and it retains control over the asset, the Group continues to recognize the asset to the extent of its continuing involvement, determined by the extent to which it is exposed to changes in the value of the transferred asset.

 

Financial liabilities

 

Financial assets

 

If the terms of a financial asset are modified, then the Group evaluates whether the cash flows of the modified asset are substantially different.

If the cash flows are substantially different, then the contractual rights to cash flows from the original financial asset are deemed to have expired. In this case, the original financial asset is derecognised and a new financial asset is recognised at fair value plus any eligible transaction costs. Any fees received as part of the modification are accounted for as follows:

• fees that are considered in determining the fair value of the new asset and fees that represent reimbursement of eligible transaction costs are included in the initial measurement of the asset; and
• other fees are included in profit or loss as part of the gain or loss on derecognition.

If cash flows are modified when the borrower is in financial difficulties, then the objective of the modification is usually to maximise recovery of the original contractual terms rather than to originate a new asset with substantially different terms. If the Group plans to modify a financial asset in a way that would result in forgiveness of cash flows, then it first considers whether a portion of the asset should be written off before the modification takes place. This approach impacts the result of the quantitative evaluation and means that the derecognition criteria are not usually met in such cases.

If the modification of a financial asset measured at amortised cost or FVOCI does not result in derecognition of the financial asset, then the Group first recalculates the gross carrying amount of the financial asset using the original effective interest rate of the asset and recognises the resulting adjustment as a modification gain or loss in profit or loss. For floating-rate financial assets, the original effective interest rate used to calculate the modification gain or loss is adjusted to reflect current market terms at the time of the modification. Any costs or fees incurred and fees receivable as part of the modification adjust the gross carrying amount of the modified financial asset and are amortised over the remaining term of the modified financial asset.

 

Financial liabilities

 

The Group derecognises a financial liability when its terms are modified and the cash flows of the modified liability are substantially different. In this case, a new financial liability based on the modified terms is recognised at fair value. The difference between the carrying amount of the financial liability derecognised and consideration paid is recognised in profit or loss. Consideration paid includes non-financial assets transferred, if any, and the assumption of liabilities, including the new modified financial liability.

If the modification of a financial liability is not accounted for as derecognition, then the amortised cost of the liability is recalculated by discounting the modified cash flows at the original effective interest rate and the resulting gain or loss is recognised in profit or loss. For floating-rate financial liabilities, the original effective interest rate used to calculate the modification gain or loss is adjusted to reflect current market terms at the time of the modification. Any costs and fees incurred are recognised as an adjustment to the carrying amount of the liability and amortised over the remaining term of the modified financial liability by re-computing the effective interest rate on the instrument.

 

Interest rate benchmark reform

 

If the basis for determining the contractual cash flows of a financial asset or financial liability measured at amortised cost changes as a result of interest rate benchmark reform, then the Group  updates the effective interest rate of the financial assets or financial liability to reflect the change that is required by the reform. A change in the basis for determining the contractual cash flows is required by interest rate benchmark reform if the following conditions are met:

• the change is necessary as a direct consequence of the reform; and
• the new basis for determining the contractual cash flows is economically equivalent to the previous basis – i.e. the basis immediately before the change.

If changes are made to a financial asset or financial liability in addition to changes to the basis for determining the contractual cash flows required by interest rate benchmark reform, then the Group first updates the effective interest rate benchmark reform. After that, the Group applies the policies on accounting for modifications set out above to the additional changes.

 

Impairment of financial assets

 

The Group assesses on a forward-looking basis the expected credit loss (‘ECL’) associated with its debt instrument assets carried at amortized cost and FVTOCI and with the exposure arising from loan commitments and financial guarantee contracts. The Group recognizes a loss allowance for such losses at each reporting date. The measurement of ECL reflects:

• An unbiased and probability-weighted amount that is determined by evaluating a range of possible outcomes;
• The time value of money; and
• Reasonable and supportable information that is available without undue cost or effort at the reporting date about past events, current conditions and forecasts of future economic conditions.

 

Central Bank of UAE (“CBUAE”) provision requirements

As per the CBUAE notice no. CBUAE/BSD/2018/458 dated 30 April 2018, clause 6.4, if the specific provision and general/collective provision cumulatively is higher than the impairment allowance computed under IFRS 9, the differential should be transferred to an “Impairment Reserve” as an appropriation from the Retained earnings. This impairment reserve should be split to that which relates to difference in specific provision and general/collective provision. The Impairment reserve will not be available for payment of dividend.

 

Note 5(b)(iv) provides more details of how the expected credit loss allowance is measured.