Boon to US leverage ratios as FASB ditches netting proposals

Derivatives accounting proposals abandoned to relief of dealers - but move deals a blow to hopes of convergence between US standards and IASB

The Connecticut-based Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has voted to preserve rules that allow the netting of derivatives and repo transactions in the US – pleasing banks, which had worried reporting their derivatives positions on a gross basis would cause them to blow through leverage ratio limits. But the decision also dashes hopes of convergence between US standards and those