5 Financial Instruments

5.1 Accounting classification

The following table shows the carrying amounts of financial assets and financial liabilities.

Fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date in the principal or, in its absence, the most advantageous market to which FMO has access at that date.

5.2 Short-term deposits

Mandatory reserve deposits are not available for use in FMO’s day-to-day operations.

5.3 Fair values

Fair value hierarchy

All financial instruments for which fair value is recognized or disclosed are categorized within the fair value hierarchy, based on lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement as a whole, as follows:

Level 1 – Quoted (unadjusted) market prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2 – Valuation techniques for which the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement is directly or indirectly observable.

Level 3 – Valuation technique for which the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement is unobservable.

Valuation processes

For recurring and non-recurring fair value measurements categorized within Level 3 of the fair value hierarchy, FMO uses the valuation processes to decide its valuation policies and procedures and analyze changes in fair value measurement from period to period.

FMO’s fair value methodology and governance over applied methods includes a number of controls and other procedures to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure quality and adequacy. The responsibility of ongoing measurement resides with the relevant departments. Once submitted, fair value estimates are also reviewed and challenged by the Investment Risk Committee (IRC). The IRC approves the fair values measured including the valuation techniques and other significant input parameters used. The appropriateness of the valuation techniques applicable to the underlying instruments is assessed as part of the valuation process and any potential changes between levels in the fair value hierarchy are considered.

Valuation techniques

When available, the fair value of an instrument is measured by using the quoted price in an active market for that instrument (level 1). A market is regarded as active if transactions of the asset or liability take place with sufficient frequency and volume to provide pricing information on an ongoing basis.

If there is no quoted price in an active market, valuation techniques are used that maximize the use of relevant observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs. Valuation techniques include:

1. Recent broker/ price quotations

2. Discounted cash flow models

3. Option-pricing models

The techniques incorporate current market and contractual prices, time to expiry, yield curves and volatility of the underlying instrument. Inputs used in pricing models are market observable (level 2) or are not market observable (level 3). A substantial part of fair value (level 3) is based on net asset values.

Investments are measured at fair value when a quoted market price in an active market is available or when fair value can be estimated reliably by using a valuation technique. The main part of the fair value measurement related to investments (level 3) is based on net asset values of investment funds as reported by the fund manager and are based on advanced valuation methods and practices. When available, these fund managers value the underlying investments based on quoted prices, if not available multiples are applied as input for the valuation.

The table below presents the carrying value and estimated fair value of FMO’s non fair value financial assets and liabilities.

The carrying values in the financial asset and liability categories are valued at amortized cost except for the funding in connection with hedge accounting. The underlying changes to fair value of these assets and liabilities are therefore not recognized in the balance sheet.

The valuation technique we use for the fair value determination of loans to the private sector and non-hedged funding is based on the discounted cash-flow method. The discount rate we apply is a spread curve based on the average spread of the portfolio.

The following table gives an overview of the financial instruments valued at fair value using a fair value hierarchy that reflects the significance of the inputs used in making the measurements.

Valuation techniques and unobservable inputs used measuring fair value of loans to the private sector

Valuation techniques and unobservable inputs used measuring fair value of equity investments