Description: The implementation of the IFRS 17 insurance accounting standard has brought significant changes to the financial reporting landscape of insurance companies. With new disclosure requirements and altered profit analysis, understanding and interpreting future profitability have become a topic of concern for the industry. While stability remains a key objective for insurance companies, the earning patterns might become more volatile especially when the contractual service margin (CSM) is exhausted, and a loss component (LC) needs to be established. Reinsurance, a common risk mitigation tool, can play a pivotal role in managing earnings volatility and minimizing losses for onerous measurement units. In this article, we propose a new key performance indicator (KPI) called “loss recoverability” to assess the performance of reinsurance treaties in achieving these objectives. We explain how this KPI can be utilized in multiple scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of reinsurance strategies and pursue stability in earning patterns.

Description: Since the issuance of IFRS 17 in 2017, the global insurance accounting standard, insurers across the globe have been making huge investment in assessing the impact and implementing the new standard. In late 2018, FASB issued ASU 2018-12 that revises key elements of the U.S. GAAP measurement models and disclosure requirements for long-duration contracts issued by insurers (also called FASB Targeted Improvements). Both standards are becoming effective 1/1/2021 (though IFRS 17 may potentially be deferred by a year). U.S. insurers that have international parents or subsidiaries, and report under a multi-GAAP environment will likely have to adopt both standards. By now most insurers should have nearly completed impact assessment for IFRS 17, designed road map for or have started the implementation journey. With the new U.S. GAAP requirements becoming effective concurrently, it is important to embark on the implementation journey with both standards in mind, and maximize the synergy to achieve cost-saving and design efficiency. This session will briefly introduce the two standards with a conceptual comparison, along with a discussion on where efficiency and synergy can be achieved in a concurrent implementation.

Description: This article examines potential approaches to the calculation of the risk adjustment component, with a focus on a case study related to a UL product.

Description: Feature article discussing IFRS 17 and its implications.