In September 2021, the IASB issued a RFI seeking comments from stakeholders to identify whether the classification and measurement requirements in IFRS 9 Financial Instruments provide information that is useful to users of financial statements; whether there are requirements that are difficult to implement and may prevent the consistent implementation of the standard; and whether unexpected costs have arisen in connection with applying or enforcing the standard.

In its draft comment letter, the UKEB:

• observes that the IFRS 9 classification and measurement requirements generally work as intended and represent an improvement to the previous rule-based requirements in IAS 39 Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement.
• Focuses on three areas where it considers improvement and potentially standard-setting activity are required.  Two of the areas relate to the application of the contractual cash flow characteristics assessment for financial assets (financial instruments with sustainability-linked features and contractually linked instruments and non-recourse finance), while another relates to the effective interest rate methodology.
• suggests that the IASB addresses the issue considered in the recent IFRS Interpretations Committee tentative agenda decision Cash Received via Electronic Transfer as Settlement for a Financial asset as part of this Post-implementation Review.

Comments on the draft comment letter are requested by 10 January 2022.

The press release, the draft comment letter and the invitation to comment are available on the UKEB website.