At the AcSOC meeting on February 21-22, 2019, re IFRS 17, the AcSB Chair noted that the AcSB is focused on the status of global and Canadian implementation. The Chair holds monthly calls with an IASB board member, who is also the official board advisor on the Insurance project, to receive updates on the Insurance standard. The AcSB Chair and the AcSB staff also hold regular calls with the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group and other national standard setters to receive updates on their respective endorsement processes. The AcSB Chair informed the AcSOC that the IASB is considering amendments to IFRS 17 based on stakeholder feedback, including those highlighted by Canadian stakeholders.

The IASB plans to issue an exposure draft by the end of the second quarter of 2019. Also, with regards to mutual entities, the AcSB Chair informed the AcSOC that mutual entities’ laws and regulations differ across jurisdictions. Canadian mutual entities are smaller in size and are formed under different legislation. The new IFRS 17 can be read to require the surplus in these entities to be treated as a liability whereas the Canadian mutual entities argue that it should be treated as part of equity. The AcSB has signaled to the IASB that it believes that the matter needs to be determined based on the underlying legal requirements for these entities. The AcSB will continue to meet with mutual entities to determine if the underlying support of the surplus would in fact be treated as a liability.

Review the meeting summary on the AcSOC's Web site.