18 July 2018

Deloitte issues results of global IFRS insurance survey

Deloitte has issued the results of its 'Global IFRS Insurance Survey 2018: 2021 countdown underway — Insurers prepare for IFRS 17 implementation', which aims to provide a comprehensive view of insurers' reactions to the requirement in IFRS 17.

Key findings of the survey include:

• Just enough time to get ready
  Global insurers are cautiously confident that they will meet the implementation date with 90 percent responding that they believe they will be compliant by 1 January 2021. Of this total, 45 percent indicated strong confidence to finish on time, with health insurers being the more confident sub-group at 60 percent, and life insurers, with only 37 percent, being the more cautious sub-group. From a regional perspective, Europe is more confident than other regions.
• Upgrading technology is necessary
  87 percent of insurers believe their systems technology will require upgrades to capture the new data and perform the calculations required for compliance. Capturing data inputs was also cited as the largest technology challenge.
• Significant implementation costs have been budgeted
  The majority of insurers have now set some expectations around budget, with results showing the expected spend to be significantly greater than expectations captured in 2013. 35 percent of insurers expect to spend more than EUR 50m to meet compliance, compared with only 7 percent five years ago.
• Insurers are seeing more benefits vs. cost
  93 percent of global insurers feel that the benefits of adopting IFRS 17 will outweigh the cost of compliance. This is compared to only 21 percent in 2013.
• Actuarial, accounting and collaboration skills will be in high demand
  Insurers cited collaboration skills as being equally as important as actuarial skills. Many of them said they would try to drive tighter integration between finance, actuarial, and other departments. They also report having the greatest difficulty in finding actuarial and accounting expertise.

Full press release

Full survey

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