Scope (AASB4_08-15_COMPsep20_01-21)

An entity shall apply this Standard to:

(a)            insurance contracts (including reinsurance contracts) that it issues and reinsurance contracts that it holds.

(b)            financial instruments that it issues with a discretionary participation feature (see paragraph 35). AASB 7 Financial Instruments: Disclosures requires disclosure about financial instruments, including financial instruments that contain such features.

This Standard does not address other aspects of accounting by insurers, such as accounting for financial assets held by insurers and financial liabilities issued by insurers (see AASB 132 Financial Instruments: Presentation, AASB 7 and AASB 9 Financial Instruments), except:

(a)            paragraph 20A permits insurers that meet specified criteria to apply a temporary exemption from AASB 9;

(b)            paragraph 35B permits insurers to apply the overlay approach to designated financial assets; and

(c)            paragraph 45 permits insurers to reclassify in specified circumstances some or all of their financial assets so that the assets are measured at fair value through profit or loss.

Notwithstanding paragraph 2, to comply with the requirements of this Standard, an entity shall apply:

(a)            AASB 1023 General Insurance Contracts to general insurance contracts, except for fixed-fee service contracts that meet the definition of an insurance contract under this Standard; and

(b)            AASB 1038 Life Insurance Contracts to life insurance contracts.

Where this Standard provides an accounting policy choice, an entity shall apply that choice in the context of the requirements specified in AASB 1023 and AASB 1038, when applicable.

This Standard includes only limited guidance in accounting for insurance contracts and disclosure requirements. AASB 1023 and AASB 1038 address all aspects of recognition, measurement and disclosure of general insurance contracts and life insurance contracts. The requirements of those Standards address a wider range of accounting requirements than this Standard, but enable simultaneous compliance with this Standard.

An entity shall not apply this Standard to:

(a)            product warranties issued directly by a manufacturer, dealer or retailer (see AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and AASB 137 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets).

(b)            employers’ assets and liabilities under employee benefit plans (see AASB 119 Employee Benefits and AASB 2 Share-based Payment) and retirement benefit obligations reported by defined benefit retirement plans (see AASB 1056 Superannuation Entities).

(c)            contractual rights or contractual obligations that are contingent on the future use of, or right to use, a non-financial item (for example, some licence fees, royalties, variable lease payments and similar items), as well as a lessee’s residual value guarantee embedded in a lease (see AASB 16 Leases, AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and AASB 138 Intangible Assets).

(d)            financial guarantee contracts unless the issuer has previously asserted explicitly that it regards such contracts as insurance contracts and has used accounting applicable to insurance contracts, in which case the issuer may elect to apply either AASB 132, AASB 7 and AASB 9 or AASB 1023 to such financial guarantee contracts. The issuer may make that election contract by contract, but the election for each contract is irrevocable.

(e)            contingent consideration payable or receivable in a business combination (see AASB 3 Business Combinations).

(f)            direct insurance contracts that the entity holds (ie direct insurance contracts in which the entity is the policyholder). However, a cedant shall apply this Standard to reinsurance contracts that it holds.

For ease of reference, this Standard describes any entity that issues an insurance contract as an insurer, whether or not the issuer is regarded as an insurer for legal or supervisory purposes. All references in paragraphs 3(a)–3(b), 20A–20Q, 35B–35N, 39B–39M and 46–49 to an insurer shall be read as also referring to an issuer of a financial instrument that contains a discretionary participation feature.

A reinsurance contract is a type of insurance contract. Accordingly, all references in this Standard to insurance contracts also apply to reinsurance contracts.

This Standard applies to fixed-fee service contracts, described in paragraphs B6 and B7, which meet the definition of an insurance contract under this Standard.

AASB 9 requires an entity to separate some embedded derivatives from their host contract, measure them at fair value and include changes in their fair value in profit or loss. AASB 9 applies to derivatives embedded in an insurance contract unless the embedded derivative is itself an insurance contract.

As an exception to the requirements in AASB 9, an insurer need not separate, and measure at fair value, a policyholder’s option to surrender an insurance contract for a fixed amount (or for an amount based on a fixed amount and an interest rate), even if the exercise price differs from the carrying amount of the host insurance liability. However, the requirements in AASB 9 do apply to a put option or cash surrender option embedded in an insurance contract if the surrender value varies in response to the change in a financial variable (such as an equity or commodity price or index), or a non-financial variable that is not specific to a party to the contract. Furthermore, those requirements also apply if the holder’s ability to exercise a put option or cash surrender option is triggered by a change in such a variable (for example, a put option that can be exercised if a stock market index reaches a specified level).

Paragraph 8 applies equally to options to surrender a financial instrument containing a discretionary participation feature.

Some insurance contracts contain both an insurance component and a deposit component. In some cases, an insurer is required or permitted to unbundle those components:

(a)            unbundling is required if both the following conditions are met:

(i)              the insurer can measure the deposit component (including any embedded surrender options) separately (ie without considering the insurance component).

(ii)             the insurer’s accounting policies do not otherwise require it to recognise all obligations and rights arising from the deposit component.

(b)            unbundling is permitted, but not required, if the insurer can measure the deposit component separately as in (a)(i) but its accounting policies require it to recognise all obligations and rights arising from the deposit component, regardless of the basis used to measure those rights and obligations.

(c)            unbundling is prohibited if an insurer cannot measure the deposit component separately as in (a)(i).

The following is an example of a case when an insurer’s accounting policies do not require it to recognise all obligations arising from a deposit component. A cedant receives compensation for losses from a reinsurer, but the contract obliges the cedant to repay the compensation in future years. That obligation arises from a deposit component. If the cedant’s accounting policies would otherwise permit it to recognise the compensation as income without recognising the resulting obligation, unbundling is required.

To unbundle a contract, an insurer shall:

(a)            apply this Standard to the insurance component.

(b)            apply AASB 9 to the deposit component.