Saudi Arabia: Insurance industry adopts IFRS17 and IFRS9
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Mar 2023
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has announced the formal adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard 17-Insurance Contracts (IFRS17) and International Financial Reporting Standard 9-Financial Instruments (IFRS9) by the Saudi insurance sector.
Implementation of these standards started on 1 January 2023, in line with the implementation date set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), said SAMA in a statement.
SAMA said that it attaches huge importance to a seamless and highly effective adoption of IFRS17 in Saudi Arabia, as a member of the G20. Therefore, SAMA rolled out a transition plan with four phases in 2018. IFRS17 was issued by the IASB in 2017.
Moreover, SAMA said that the adoption of IFRS17 contributes to introducing new elements in the insurance industry, improving human and technological resources, enhancing the transparency of reporting and fostering the regulator-industry relationship.
SAMA pointed out that it is expected that the effort it exerted together with insurance companies during the last four years will go a long way in enabling the Saudi insurance sector to meet the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030.
In conjunction with IFRS17 implementation, SAMA announced the adoption of IFRS9 by the insurance sector starting on 1 January 2023. SAMA developed an IFRS9 transition plan with two phases. Both phases were completed successfully by the Saudi insurance sector. M