Prima Consulting builds, validates, and runs ECL models for banks and financial institutions across Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, and Europe. From gap analysis through production deployment, every model is documented to Big 4 audit standards and calibrated to your regulator's requirements.
Three years ago, IFRS 9 consulting meant helping banks adopt the standard for the first time. That market still exists: SBP-regulated institutions in Pakistan are implementing IFRS 9 right now, some for the first time. But the bigger shift is happening at institutions that already have IFRS 9 in production.
Their ECL models were built under COVID-era assumptions. Overlay governance was ad hoc. Documentation was “enough for last year’s audit.” Regulators have raised the bar. SAMA’s AQR process now examines staging logic at the exposure level. CBUAE expects forward-looking scenarios to incorporate at least three macroeconomic pathways with probability weights. External auditors are questioning overlay calculations they accepted without challenge two years ago.
IFRS 9 consulting is no longer a one-time adoption project. It’s an ongoing function that requires model recalibration, validation, and governance. Institutions that don’t treat it as such will find out during their next audit cycle.
What teams need: A production-grade ECL model with full documentation, backtesting, and an audit trail that satisfies external review.
How Prima solves it: Prima's risk team builds bespoke ECL models covering PD, LGD, and EAD calibration, with every assumption documented and every output traceable.
What teams need: A documented overlay governance process that auditors and regulators can trace from assumption to output.
How Prima solves it: Prima builds overlay governance frameworks covering methodology documentation, approval hierarchies, and quarterly review cycles. Every adjustment gets a rationale, an approval chain, and a sunset date.
What teams need: Knowledge transfer, documentation, and optionally a managed service that removes key-person dependency.
How Prima solves it: Prima delivers IFRS 9 training programs tailored to risk teams, finance teams, and audit committees. For institutions without in-house modeling capability, Prima offers full ECL outsourcing: quarterly computation, disclosure preparation, and model monitoring as a managed service.
What teams need: A single ECL framework that satisfies multiple regulators without maintaining duplicate models.
How Prima solves it: Prima has delivered IFRS 9 engagements under SAMA, CBUAE, SBP, and EBA supervision. Models are designed with a common core and jurisdiction-specific layers for staging triggers, disclosure templates, and validation requirements.
What teams need: A data remediation and collection framework that produces model-ready inputs from imperfect source systems.
How Prima solves it: Prima assesses data gaps, designs collection frameworks, and builds transformation pipelines that produce the historical default, loss, and exposure data PD/LGD/EAD models require.
What teams need: An independent validation that identifies model weaknesses before the auditor or regulator does.
How Prima solves it: Prima's validation team conducts independent ECL model reviews covering conceptual soundness, PD/LGD/EAD methodology, data inputs, backtesting performance, and overlay appropriateness. The output is a validation report formatted for regulatory submission.
| Service | What It Means for Your Institution |
|---|---|
| Gap analysis and impact assessment | Identifies every gap between your current reporting framework and IFRS 9 requirements. You receive a prioritized remediation roadmap with quantified financial impact on provisions, capital ratios, and P&L. |
| Classification and measurement advisory | Business model assessment and SPPI testing for each portfolio. Your financial assets are correctly classified into amortised cost, FVOCI, or FVTPL, with reclassification guidance where needed. |
| ECL model development and calibration | Bespoke PD, LGD, and EAD models built for your portfolio characteristics. Forward-looking scenario design with probability weighting. All models documented to Big 4 audit standards. |
| SICR framework and staging logic | Definition of significant increase in credit risk triggers specific to your portfolio. 30-day rebuttable presumption calibration. Stage migration rules and backstop logic documented for regulatory review. |
| Forward-looking scenarios and overlays | Macroeconomic scenario design (base, upside, downside) with variable selection and probability weighting. Post-model overlay governance framework with audit-ready documentation. |
| Independent ECL model validation | Third-party review of your existing ECL model before the auditor or regulator examines it. Covers conceptual soundness, data inputs, backtesting, and sensitivity analysis. Output formatted for regulatory submission. |
| Hedge accounting advisory | Hedge designation and documentation under IFRS 9's principles-based framework. Effectiveness assessment, rebalancing guidance, and cost-of-hedging accounting. |
| IFRS 7 disclosures | Preparation of credit risk disclosures, ECL methodology notes, sensitivity analysis, and stage migration tables. Calibrated to regulator-specific disclosure templates. |
| Staff training and capacity building | Customized training for risk teams, finance teams, and audit committees. Covers ECL methodology, classification decisions, and disclosure requirements. |
| Data management and quality | Data collection framework design, cleansing, transformation, and governance. Fills gaps in historical default, loss, and exposure data required for PD/LGD/EAD model inputs. |
| IFRS 9 outsourcing | Full or partial outsourcing of IFRS 9 functions: quarterly ECL computation, disclosure preparation, model monitoring. Designed for smaller institutions without in-house risk modeling teams. |
| Step 1: Assessment |
Prima reviews your current IFRS 9 framework, data infrastructure, and model outputs against regulatory requirements. This phase identifies every gap before a single model is built. | OUTPUT: Gap analysis report with prioritized remediation roadmap and quantified financial impact assessment. |
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| Step 2: Design |
ECL model architecture, staging framework, classification decisions, and governance protocols are designed based on your portfolio characteristics and regulatory environment. | OUTPUT: Model design document covering PD/LGD/EAD methodology, scenario framework, and overlay governance structure. |
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| Step 3: Build |
Models are developed, data pipelines are constructed, and IT systems are integrated. A parallel run validates that new models produce reasonable outputs against existing provisions. | OUTPUT: Production-ready ECL models with full documentation, data transformation pipelines, and system integration. |
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| Step 4: Validate |
Independent validation of all models. Backtesting, benchmarking, and sensitivity analysis confirm model accuracy. Audit preparation ensures documentation meets Big 4 review standards. | OUTPUT: Validation report, backtesting results, and audit-ready documentation package. |
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| Step 5: Go-Live and Support |
Production deployment, first quarterly ECL run, and IFRS 7 disclosure preparation. Prima provides ongoing advisory, model recalibration, and training as needed. | OUTPUT: First production ECL output, completed disclosures, and post-implementation support plan. |
Loan portfolios with corporate, SME, retail, and mortgage segments. ECL models calibrated to each segment's default characteristics. Staging logic aligned to SAMA, CBUAE, or SBP expectations for credit risk assessment.
Supervisory review of regulated institutions' IFRS 9 frameworks. Benchmarking ECL outputs across a banking sector. Guidance on proportionate IFRS 9 application for smaller institutions under your supervision.
IFRS 9 applies to insurance companies' investment portfolios. Classification of debt and equity instruments, ECL on premium receivables, and interaction between IFRS 9 and IFRS 17 for financial assets held to back insurance liabilities.
Classification of debt instruments under the business model and SPPI tests. FVOCI vs FVTPL elections for equity portfolios. ECL on trade-date vs settlement-date receivables.
First-time IFRS 9 adoption with limited historical data. Proportionate ECL approaches for smaller portfolios. SBP compliance for Pakistan-based institutions. Data reconstruction where default history is incomplete.
Simplified ECL approach for trade receivables using provision matrices. Practical implementation for non-financial companies that hold financial instruments but don't have dedicated risk modeling teams.
Prima built and validated a full ECL framework for a Tier 2 commercial bank in Saudi Arabia, covering 4 portfolio segments with PD/LGD/EAD models that passed SAMA's AQR review on the first submission.
All ECL models are documented against Big 4 audit standards. Prima's proprietary Rust IFRS 9 software provides automated audit trail generation, version-controlled model outputs, and regulatory-grade reporting.
A qualified audit opinion on IFRS 9 disclosures does not just affect the financial statements. It signals to the regulator that the institution’s credit risk measurement framework is unreliable. In SAMA-regulated markets, this triggers enhanced supervisory attention and can restrict business activities.
ECL models built without documented methodology create a different kind of risk. When the person who built the model leaves, the institution loses the ability to explain its own provisions. Quarterly runs become a black box. The board signs off on numbers nobody fully understands.
Post-model overlays without governance are the fastest route to an audit finding. Auditors accepted undocumented overlays during COVID because everyone was improvising. That goodwill has expired. Overlays without methodology, approval chains, and sunset dates now get flagged.
Prima's IFRS 9 gap assessment covers your ECL models, staging logic, data infrastructure, and disclosure readiness. You receive a written report with specific findings, not a generic checklist.
Most full implementations run 12 to 20 weeks, depending on portfolio complexity and data readiness. First-time adoptions for smaller institutions can be completed in 10 to 14 weeks. Prima provides a timeline estimate during the initial gap assessment.
Prima reviews your current reporting framework, ECL models (if any), data infrastructure, and disclosures against IFRS 9 requirements and your regulator's specific expectations. The output is a prioritized remediation roadmap with quantified financial impact.
Yes. Independent ECL model validation is a standalone service. Prima reviews conceptual soundness, PD/LGD/EAD methodology, data inputs, backtesting results, and overlay appropriateness. The validation report is formatted for regulatory submission.
Yes. Prima runs quarterly ECL computations, disclosure preparation, and model monitoring as a managed service. This is designed for institutions that don't have in-house risk modeling teams or want to reduce key-person dependency.
Prima serves commercial banks, NBFIs, microfinance banks, insurance and takaful companies, central banks, investment funds, and corporates with trade receivables. IFRS 9 applies to any entity holding financial instruments.
Prima's team has delivered engagements under both SAMA and CBUAE supervision. Models are designed with a common ECL core and jurisdiction-specific layers for staging triggers, disclosure templates, and validation requirements. This avoids maintaining duplicate models.
Ideally, 5 to 7 years of historical default, loss, and exposure data by portfolio segment. If your data is incomplete, Prima's data management service includes historical reconstruction and gap remediation to produce model-ready inputs.
Prima builds overlay governance frameworks that cover methodology documentation, approval hierarchies, and quarterly review cycles. Every adjustment gets a documented rationale, an approval chain, and a defined sunset date. This is what auditors look for.
The IASB published amendments to IFRS 9 and IFRS 7 in May 2024, effective 1 January 2026. Key changes affect the classification of financial assets with ESG-linked features, the derecognition of electric cash transfer system liabilities, and enhanced disclosure requirements. Prima helps institutions assess the impact and update their frameworks.
Fees depend on institution size, portfolio complexity, number of jurisdictions, and scope of services. A gap analysis for a single-country bank is a different engagement from a full ECL build across three regulators. Prima provides a scoped proposal with fixed fees after the initial assessment call.
Yes, but simply. Defined contribution costs are expensed as contributions fall due, with no actuarial valuation needed. Actuarial valuations apply to defined benefit arrangements, which include EOSB and gratuity schemes.
Prima operates across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Pakistan, Germany, and Ireland, and serves the wider Middle East and Europe. Multi-country groups receive one methodology and one consolidated deliverable across our full employee benefits valuation services.
IFRS 9 rarely sits alone on an audit. Prima handles the connected standards under one team:
Regulatory expectations are rising. ECL models built five years ago need recalibration, and overlay governance that passed audit in 2023 won't pass in 2027. Whether you're adopting IFRS 9 for the first time or remediating an existing framework, Prima Consulting provides the documentation, validated results, and regulatory alignment your institution needs across KSA, UAE, Pakistan, Germany, Ireland, and the wider region.
30-minute call. No obligation. Also: Download the IAS 19 Data Checklist. Fixed fee confirmed in writing before any engagement begins.
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