34.2. Credit and default risk

The credit and default risk arising from financial assets involves the risk of default by counterparties, and therefore comprises at a maximum the amount of the claims under carrying amounts receivable from them and the irrevocable credit commitments. The maximum potential credit and default risk is reduced by collateral held and other credit enhancements. Collateral is held predominantly for financial assets in the “at amortized cost” category. It relates primarily to collateral for financial services receivables and trade receivables. Collateral comprises vehicles and assets transferred as security, as well as guarantees and real property liens. Cash collateral is also used in hedging transactions.

For level 3 and 4 financial assets with objective indications of impairment as of the reporting date, the collateral provided led to a reduction in risk by €1.3 billion. Collateral of €15 million has been accepted for assets measured at fair value through profit or loss.

Significant cash and capital investments, as well as derivatives, are only entered into with national and international banks. Risk is additionally limited by a limit system based primarily on the equity base of the counterparties concerned and on credit assessments by international rating agencies. Financial guarantees issued also give rise to credit and default risk. The maximum potential credit and default risk is calculated from the amount Volkswagen would have to pay if claims were to be asserted under the guarantees. The corresponding amounts are presented in the Liquidity risk section.

There were no material concentrations of risk at individual counterparties or counterparty groups in the past fiscal year due to the global allocation of the Group’s business activities and the resulting diversification. There was a slight change in the concentration of credit and default risk exposures to the German public banking sector as a whole that has arisen from Group-wide cash and capital investments as well as derivatives: the portion attributable to this sector was 9.7 % at the end of 2018 compared with 7.4 % at the end of 2017. Any existing concentration of risk is assessed and monitored both at the level of individual counterparties or counterparty groups and with regard to the countries in which these are based, in each case using the share of all credit and default risk exposures accounted for by the risk exposure concerned.

For China, credit and default risk exposures accounted for 25.4 % at the end of 2018, as against 29.5 % at the end of 2017. There were no other concentrations of credit and default risk exposures in individual countries.

LOSS ALLOWANCE

The Volkswagen Group consistently uses the expected credit loss model of IFRS 9 for all financial assets and other risk exposures.

Regarding this, IFRS 9 differentiates between the general approach and the simplified approach. The expected credit loss model under IFRS 9 takes in both loss allowances for financial assets for which there are no objective indications of impairment and loss allowances for financial assets that are already impaired. For the calculation of impairment losses, IFRS 9 distinguishes between the general approach and the simplified approach.

Under the general approach, financial assets are allocated to one of three stages, plus an additional stage for financial assets that are already impaired when acquired (stage 4). Stage 1 comprises financial assets that are recognized for the first time or for which the probability of default has not increased significantly. The expected credit losses for the next twelve months are calculated at this stage. Stage 2 comprises financial assets with a significantly increased probability of default, while financial assets with objective indications of default are allocated to stage 3. The lifetime expected credit losses are calculated at these stages. Stage 4 financial assets, which are already impaired when acquired, are subsequently measured by recognizing a loss allowance on the basis of the accumulated lifetime expected losses. Financial assets classified as impaired on acquisition remain in this category until they are derecognized.

The Volkswagen Group applies the simplified approach to trade receivables and contract assets with a significant financing component in accordance with IFRS 15. The same applies to receivables under operating or finance leases accounted for under IAS 17. Under the simplified approach, the expected losses are consistently determined for the entire life of the asset.

The tables below show the reconciliation of the loss allowance for various financial assets and financial guarantees and credit commitments:

The loss allowance on “assets measured at fair value” amounted to €2 million in January 2018 (Stage 1) and did not change in the course of the fiscal year.

The amount contractually outstanding for financial assets that have been derecognized in the current year and are still subject to enforcement proceedings is €293 million.

MODIFICATIONS

There were contract modifications to financial assets in the reporting period that did not lead to the derecognition of the asset. They were primarily attributable to credit ratings and relate to financial assets for which loss allowances were measured in the amount of the lifetime credit losses. For trade and lease receivables, the treatment is simplified by considering the credit rating-based modifications where the receivables are more than 30 days past due. Before the modification, amortized cost amounted to €147 million. In the reporting period, contract modifications resulted in net income/net expenses of €2 million.

As of the reporting date, the gross carrying amounts of financial assets that have been modified since initial recognition and were simultaneously reclassified from stage 2 or 3 to stage 1 in the reporting period amounted to €19 million. As a result, the measurement of the loss allowance for these financial assets was changed from lifetime expected credit losses to 12-month expected credit losses.

MAXIMUM CREDIT RISK

The table below shows the maximum credit risk to which the Volkswagen Group was exposed as of the reporting date, broken down by class to which the impairment model is applied:

RATING CATEGORIES

The Volkswagen Group performs a credit assessment of borrowers in all loan and lease agreements, using scoring systems for the high-volume business and rating systems for corporate customers and receivables from dealer financing. Receivables rated as good are contained in risk class 1. Receivables from customers whose credit rating is not good but have not yet defaulted are contained in risk class 2. Risk class 3 comprises all defaulted receivables.

The table below presents the gross carrying amounts of financial assets by rating category as of December 31, 2018:

Furthermore, the default risk exposure for financial guarantees and credit commitments is presented below:

In addition, the credit and default risk relating to financial assets, the credit rating of financial assets that are neither past due nor impaired, and the maturities of financial assets that are past due and not impaired are presented for the previous year in the table below:

Collateral that was accepted for financial assets in the current fiscal year was recognized in the balance sheet in the amount of €134 million (previous year: €109 million). This mainly relates to vehicles.