FT: Insurers - Fair value

07 May 2013

The IASB will shortly release a new draft standard on how to handle insurance contracts. At present, there is little international consistency and the new rules have been years in the making.

Timing is hardly propitious. The core issue (to simplify a very complex area) is the extent to which current interest rates should be used to calculate insurers’ liabilities. That would be contentious at the best of times. But for insurers, these are the worst of times. Since 2009, the western world has faced a long and widespread low interest rate environment. This is a two-headed problem, causing insurers’ liabilities to increase in current terms at a time when it is harder to earn money on bond investments.

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