Most insurers in Ireland have chosen to implement IFRS 9 Financial Instruments at the same time as IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts. Much has been written about IFRS 17 implementation and about IFRS 9 implementation by banks. However, to date, there has not been a large amount of focus on the implementation of IFRS 9 by insurers.
EY teams conducted a global IFRS 9 insurance survey involving insurers in more than 15 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. We surveyed a mix of 20 top-tier global insurers, including a mix between life and non-life businesses, entities that are in the process of implementing the standard and entities that have already implemented IFRS 9 in 2018.
Considering this mix, the results of this survey provide a view of the challenges already faced by some insurers, as well as the current readiness status for those who have just started their IFRS 9 projects globally, including a comparative view of the key challenges observed by entities in these different regions and different stages of the project (e.g., early design or already reporting IFRS 9 results).
Separately, for local (UK or Irish) GAAP reporters (FRS 101 or FRS 102 & 103), we await the outcome of the consultation process from the Financial Reporting Council’s FRED 70 proposals, which if adopted, would result in insurance companies currently reporting under FRS 101 to be required to adopt IFRS in full or move to FRS 102 and 103 in 2022. The FRC has not indicated a timeframe for introducing the principles and requirements of IFRS 17 into local GAAP.
Download the survey report using the link below and, if you have a question about any of the above, don’t hesitate to reach out.