Canadian regulator limits choices on adoption of IFRS 9
23 Mar 2017
The Canadian Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) has issued an advisory regarding a deferral of IFRS 9 application for life insurers.
In September 2016, the IASB issued Applying IFRS 9 'Financial Instruments' with IFRS 4 'Insurance Contracts' (Amendments to IFRS 4) providing two options for entities that issue insurance contracts within the scope of IFRS 4: the so-called overlay approach and the so-called deferral approach.
The OSFI has now decided that all regulated insurance companies that are eligible for the IFRS 9 deferral must use it. This way, OSFI ensures that all insurance companies eligible for the IASB deferral will adopt on the same date while fully respecting the IASB's scope. In the past, OSFI has repeatedly used the means of limiting choices or not permitting early adoption as a way of keeping the Canadian reporting landscape homogeneous and financial statements comparable.
Please click to access the notice on the OSFI website.
