IRA held stakeholder forums in Nairobi between 19-21st June 2024, to discuss matters related to International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17. The Standard, which came into force on 1 January 2023, replaced IFRS 4.

Stakeholders who participated in the forums included representatives from General Insurers, Long Term Insurers and Principal Officers.

IFRS 17 aims to increase transparency and to improve comparability for insurance accounts. IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts has new requirements for data and processes, and it establishes the principles for the recognition, measurement, presentation, and disclosure of insurance contracts. Insurance contracts combine features of both a financial instrument and a service contract. In addition, many insurance contracts generate cash flows with substantial variability over a long period. To provide useful information about these features, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) developed the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17 which combines current measurement of the future cash flows with the recognition of profit over the period that services are provided under an insurance contract.

The reporting standard also presents insurance service results (including presentation of insurance revenue) separately from insurance finance income or expenses; and also requires an entity to make an accounting policy choice of whether to recognize all insurance finance income or expenses in profit or loss or to recognize some of that income or expenses in other comprehensive income.

The Authority led the insurance industry’s adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 17 which officially commenced in January 2023, after a comprehensive engagement.

Mr. Titus Osero, IRA’s Senior Manager – Actuarial and Data Analytics was the workshops’ lead facilitator during the three days forum, setting out the objectives of the workshop and leading in various discussions.

A plenary session was held thereafter. The forums were instrumental in offering stakeholders a chance to share their feedback on the standards and to ask related questions for smoother implementation of IFRS 17.

The new reporting standard is expected to enhance transparency in the insurance sector in Kenya.