The Impact Of IFRS And Solvency II On Asset-Liability Management And Asset Management In Insurance Companies

Summary:

A new study jointly produced by the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and the EDHEC Financial Analysis and Accounting Research Centre entitled ‘The Impact of IFRS and Solvency II on Asset-Liability Management and Asset Management in Insurance Companies’ reveals the contradictions inherent in the current Solvency II and IFRS provisions for insurance companies. The report shows notably that the numerous provisions proposed by the IFRS are at odds with the good risk management practices put forward by Solvency II. While IFRS and Solvency II should lead to a genuine evolution in the management of insurance companies, by empowering them with respect to their risks (identification, measurement and management), one is forced to observe today that the standards implemented often oppose their initial objectives: the adoption of modern asset management and ALM techniques with a view to reducing the exposure to risks is considerably penalised by the IFRS treatment by leading to additional purely accounting volatility, without any connection to the economic reality.