Impairment of Financial Assets
Financial assets are assessed for indicators of impairment at the end of each reporting period. Financial assets are impaired when there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial assets, the estimated future cash flows of the financial assets have been impacted.
For all financial assets, objective evidence of impairment could include:
| • | Significant financial difficulty of the issuer or counterparty; | |
| • | Default or delinquency in interest or principal payments; or, | |
| • | It becoming probable that the borrower will enter bankruptcy or financial re-organization. |
For certain categories of financial assets that are assessed not to be impaired individually, they are subsequently assessed for impairment on a collective basis. The carrying amount of financial assets is reduced by the impairment loss directly for all financial assets with the exception of receivables, where the carrying amount is reduced through the use of an allowance account. When a receivable is considered uncollectible, it is written off against the allowance account. Subsequent recoveries of amounts previously written off are credited against the allowance account. Changes in the carrying amount of the allowance account are recognized in profit or loss.
With the exception of FVTPL marketable securities, if in a subsequent period, the amount of the impairment loss decreases and the decrease can be related objectively to an event occurring after the impairment was recognized, the previously recognized impairment loss is reversed through profit or loss to the extent that the carrying amount of the investment at the date the impairment is reversed does not exceed what the amortized cost would have been had the impairment not been recognized. In respect of AFS marketable securities, impairment losses previously recognized through profit or loss are not reversed through profit or loss. Any increase in fair value subsequent to an impairment loss is recognized directly in equity.