26 June 2023 – The Reserve Bank is reviewing the existing suite of insurance solvency standards, in part to address the new accounting standard for insurance contracts (NZ IFRS 17).
We have identified a small number of minor errors in the Interim Solvency Standard 2023 (the Standard) and have issued an ‘Amendment Standard’ to correct them. We have also taken the opportunity to ease sign-off requirements for solvency returns such that signatories can be specified by the conditions of an insurer’s licence.
Stakeholders have made us aware of a number of additional issues with the Standard and we thank them for raising these. We intend to address these issues over coming months by consulting on and issuing a further amendment. This work will be prioritised over stage 2 of the Solvency Review (i.e. the detailed review of methods and parameters). We will advise the schedule for work on this further amendment in due course.
References in conditions of licence to the ‘Interim Solvency Standard 2023’ will, from 1 August 2023, refer to the Standard as amended by the Amendment Standard.
Please visit https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/have-your-say/2020/review-of-the-insurance-solvency-standards to access the relevant documents.
