ECB's Trichet urges IASB action on off-balance sheet entities
14 May 2008
In a speech at the Corriere della Sera International Forum 2008 in Milan on 12 May 2008, Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, said that "the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and other relevant standard-setters should take urgent action to improve the accounting and disclosure standards for off-balance sheet entities and to enhance guidance on fair value accounting, particularly on valuing financial instruments in periods of stress".
He also called on banks and other financial institutions adopt the recent recommendations of the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), endorsed by the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, in their upcoming half-year financial reports. Those recommendations urge financial institutions to expand their disclosures of qualitative and quantitative information about risk exposures, write downs, fair value estimates for complex and illiquid instruments, and off-balance-sheet entities. Click to download Mr Trichet's Speech (PDF 66k).