30 November 2018
IFRS 17 is now expected to be implemented in 2022, following the IASB’s recent vote to propose a one-year deferral of the mandatory effective date.
This past year has seen firms establish IFRS 17 programmes to investigate the technical impact and the impact on systems and processes. The most significant change to insurance accounting in recent times has been discussed for at least twenty years but there is now a clear path to implementation of the rules across many countries globally.
The Financial Reporting Group (FRG) supports the IFoA by providing a steer on financial reporting issues across actuarial practice areas. The group also assist with work on IFRS 17, including providing the IFoA’s input into the work of the International Actuarial Association (IAA) on this topic.
This group is chaired by Kamran Foroughi of Willis Towers Watson. Find out more about the work of the FRG
IFRS 17 General Insurance Working Party was set up in 2015 to raise awareness of what the changes to the IFRS accounting requirements will mean for those working in General Insurance. They have presented at various seminars and workshops, and are looking to produce materials to help members understand how the requirements might be implemented. This is chaired by Helen Cooper of Hiscox. Find out more about the work of the IFRS 17 for General Insurance working party.
The IFoA has also commissioned working parties in the past to investigate early consultations on technical matters, but the publication of the standard in 2017 has meant that there are important technical topics to research right now. With that in mind, three Life Insurance working parties have now been set up:
1. A transversal IFRS 17 working party to act as a panel of experts to deal with all IFRS 17 related issues and to work closely with the FRG and the other IFRS 17 working parties. This is chaired by Dom Veney of Pension Insurance Corporation.
2. A working party investigating the impact of the Contractual Service Margin (CSM), chaired by Rebecca Brown of Aviva. The working party intends to publish a series of short articles over the next year to stimulate debate on the important judgements of the CSM, in advance of a fuller paper next year.
3. A working party is investigating the future of discount rates under IFRS 17 but will also consider implications of these developments for regulatory reporting. Similar to the CSM working party, it plans to publish short articles over the next year on a series of technical issues, in advance of a fuller paper next year. This is chaired by Richard Olswang of Prudential.
Our thanks to all who applied to be members of these working parties. Due to the high volume of applicants for a limited number of roles not everyone was successful but we are immensely grateful for all the interest shown.
All of these groups look forward to members of the profession contributing to the debate and the research through the articles and welcome any comments or input.