Minnesota Housing Finance Agency Signs GASB 53 Contract

DerivActiv to Provide GASB 53 Services for Minnesota Housing Finance Agency

In October, after a request-for-proposal (RFP) process, DerivActiv was selected by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to provide GASB 53 valuation services for its portfolio of derivatives.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – December 2, 2009 – DerivActiv, LLC, a leading provider of independent valuations for fixed income, currency and equity derivatives to governmental entities, healthcare organizations, non-profits, corporations, banks, hedge funds and higher education clients, has recently been selected to provide GASB 53 services to the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

“With the upcoming implementation date for GASB 53 approaching, municipalities, counties and state agencies are finding that they need the expertise of an outside valuation company to satisfy the new requirements,” said Bruce Stasch, Director of Marketing at DerivActiv.

As a result of the recently released GASB 53 Statement on Accounting and Financial Reporting for Derivative Instruments, public entities will soon be required to provide additional disclosure and implement hedge accounting methods to measure the effectiveness of each outstanding interest rate derivative transaction. The GASB 53 requirements are effective for financial statements for periods beginning after June 15, 2009. DerivActiv has in-depth knowledge of both FAS Statement 133 and newly released GASB 53 reporting requirements. DerivActiv is a member of the GASB 53 advisory committee and contributed to the creation of the Guide to Implementation of GASB 53 that was published by GASB in February 2009.

“Agencies like the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency are getting ahead of the 2010 reporting requirement by having us run GASB 53 hedge effectiveness testing now,” said Stasch. “These reports will help plan for GASB 53 implementation and point out any issues that can be resolved before the reporting deadline.”

The DerivActiv platform is a web-based system that is available around-the-clock and the company has successfully completed a SAS 70 Type II audit performed by a prominent CPA firm. In addition to FAS 157, 161,133 and GASB 53 reporting, the DerivActiv platform can perform trade analytics, prepare curve shock reports, produce threshold alerts and provide cash flow verifications.