A lack of transparency from the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has hampered efforts to prepare for the introduction of a new insurance company liabilities standard, according to a group of European insurers.
Documents under the UK’s Freedom of Information Act show that trade body Insurance Europe complained to the European Commission that “none” of its members had seen a draft of the new International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) before its release in May.
The release of the documents follows a successful challenge by IPE after the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) argued the public interest would be harmed by their release.
Insurance Europe also reported that a limited number of insurers had taken part in field testing of the new IFRS. It went on to claim that the IASB had not conducted a cost-benefit analysis of the new standard.
The IFRS 17 standard, which the IASB published in May this year, will take effect from 1 January 2021. It represents a major leap for IFRS, which had until recently lacked a globally applicable accounting rulebook.
IPE has contacted both Insurance Europe and the UK’s Association of British Insurers (ABI) for comment.
Insurance Europe referred IPE to an earlier statement in which it set out its concerns about the IASB’s communications and outreach.
Insurance Europe’s concerns centred on the assessment of onerous contracts and the requirement to group together only contracts issued within the same year. The trade body also objected to restating comparatives when applying the new insurance standard for the first time.
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