In this first report of the survey findings, the Economist Impact team has focused on the responses we collected from participants based in the European Union (EU) given the EU-endorsed version of IFRS 17 has a key difference compared with the text originally published by the International Accounting Standards Board. This difference is the addition of a voluntary exemption from one key requirement in IFRS 17 that many stakeholders in the EU endorsement process believed should not apply on a mandatory basis to a particular type of life insurance business commonly found in the EU.

The highlights from the survey are that a large majority of EU-headquartered insurance groups will choose the voluntary adoption of the EU exemption. The overwhelming sentiment indicated that this choice is not expected to significantly dilute the benefit of the level playing field that IFRS 17 could deliver globally. Participants in the survey also noted their plan to provide disclosure on the use of the EU exemption.

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In this second article of a four-part series, the Economist Impact team focuses on the technology considerations of the survey. The effort expended on the technology needed for IFRS 17 compliance was often more than initially estimated, but the expected benefits also appear to be greater. As the survey revealed, a much more transparent and agile finance capability may now be possible because packaged software helps to capture new information and offers new analyses that were previously impossible.

IFRS 17 programmes were often reported to be more complex, to take longer than expected, to cost more than planned and to require more broadly skilled resources. And these results did not vary much for different business scenarios. Data capture and analysis was a recurring theme as insurers found that the requirement for additional data granularity and governance was a primary consideration as they integrated and tested packaged solutions. The need to build foundational capabilities to tackle these challenges has created new opportunities to better report and manage financial and operational information.

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In this third article of our four-part series, we report on the views from the participants in the 2022 Global IFRS 17 Insurance Survey on how they will use the new IFRS 17 financial language to communicate to investors. With the focus on building sub-ledgers, introducing new charts of accounts, preparing data, and updating actuarial models, it is also sometimes easy with IFRS 17 to lose sight of the numbers themselves, and the storey they tell about the performance of the underlying business.

Yet, IFRS 17 is fundamentally different and therefore difficult to compare against IFRS 4, the previous standard for insurance accounting, which was designed as a mere interim solution. “The numbers” are much more than just a new balance sheet and P&L with additional, detailed disclosures. The survey shows that two aspects really stand out in terms of understanding the new world of IFRS 17:

• The mixture of economic measurement and the smoothed release of profits over a policy’s lifetime and
• The ongoing resetting each period of the insurance revenue to expected claims and expenses that could make the comparison of revenue and profit margins between lines of business more direct and understandable.

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What might the future look like as the implementation of the standard continues? In this final article of a four-part series, we report on the views from the participants of the 2022 Global IFRS 17 Insurance Survey on whether they agree that the benefits of adopting IFRS 17 will outweigh the expected costs. With the bulk of the implementation investments made, and with insurance accounting set to be transformed, what long-term benefits can insurers expect beyond compliance and how can these benefits be grasped?

Nearly half of all survey participants say that improved technology has brought new capabilities – with the possibility of new opportunities and benefits emerging as a result of the changes made. The survey shows that many insurers have already entered the IFRS17 world, and are moving to reap these potential benefits:

• While insurers will have completed at least some implementation work, there is still much to do, and insurers have stayed focused in 2023 on completing the aspects that remain outstanding.
• With IFRS 17 implementation substantially complete, many insurers expect improved technology will boost operations and capabilities, increase the granularity of data, and generate figures that are easier for investors and markets to understand and compare.
  

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Under the sponsorship of Deloitte, the Economist Impact surveyed 360 insurance executives during May and June 2022 to gauge the final views of the global insurance industry on IFRS 17. This survey took place only a few months before the "go-live" date of IFRS 17 on 1 January 2023.

This statistical compendium reproduces the questions to the participants and the summary of the answers collected. The findings from this data are the foundation of the four reports that Deloitte has sponsored on this topic.

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