17 October 2018

Insurance Europe: Global insurers unite in their call for IFRS 17 improvements and a delay

A global group of nine insurance associations has written a joint letter to Hans Hoogervorst, chair of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), that highlights the industry’s concerns about the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17 for insurance contracts.

Extensive testing, together with insurers’ detailed implementation planning, has confirmed that a number of important issues still need to be resolved in order to ensure the quality and operational practicability of the new standard.

There is also industry-wide agreement that a delay of two years is needed, both to allow for the necessary improvements to be made to the standard and for adequate time for companies to tackle the significant implementation challenges that IFRS 17 presents.

The fact that so many insurance associations from around the world have signed this letter demonstrates the importance and urgency to have a decision on a delay and for the IASB to move forward on the necessary improvements.

Full letter

European CFO Forum presentation

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