The staff briefed the Board on the results of the IFRIC meeting held earlier in July (see our IASPlus Report: IFRIC Update for this meeting is still in production). In particular, the Board will receive two Draft Interpretations for approval in the near future: one on customer loyalty programmes; and another on the interaction of a minimum finding requirement and the asset ceiling in IAS 19 Employee Benefits. A Board member noted that the conclusions reached with respect to customer loyalty programmes go beyond current US GAAP in this area and would be problematic for the operators of certain schemes, particularly airlines.

The IFRIC was close to concluding its redeliberations on customer loyalty programmes and it was hoped that the Board would be asked to approve the Interpretation in October 2006. In addition, an Interpretation based on D17 IFRS 2 Group and Treasury Share Transactions was nearing completion. A Board member expressed concerns about the tentative conclusion with respect to this topic.