Loan Loss-Accounting Study Punts On Impact of Pandemic Lending (2)

A Congress-ordered study on the biggest change to bank accounting in decades dodged the biggest question it faced, blaming the pandemic for making an answer impossible.

The study, conducted by Treasury and released Wednesday, concluded that an assessment on whether the current expected credit loss (CECL) standard would make it more difficult to lend during an economic downturn “is not currently feasible” because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Drawing conclusions right now regarding CECL’s impact since its initial implementation in early 2020 is challenging because CECL has not been fully implemented by all entities, and numerous market factors relating to ...