Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the involvement of the insurance sector and the Investment Association in their decision to endorse the IFRS 17 financial reporting standard; whether the Investment Association will be excluded from endorsement activities in connection with this standard; and if so, how.
IFRS 17 Insurance Contracts has not yet been adopted for use in the UK. The International Accounting Standards Board has set an effective date of 1 January 2023 for the standard internationally. Planning for the work to assess the standard has commenced and it will be assessed against the adoption criteria set out in the International Accounting Standards and European Public Limited-Liability Company (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.
Those Regulations oblige the Secretary of State to consult such persons as are considered to be representative of those with an interest in the quality and availability of accounts, including users and preparers of accounts. We expect that the Investment Association will have an interest in the quality of accounts prepared by companies as it represents investment managers who manage over £8.5 trillion of assets on behalf of clients in the UK and around the world. As a result, we expect outreach activities, when finalised, to include input from many user representatives including the Investment Association.