In view of ensuring Lebanon’s timely compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards, the Insurance Control Commission initiated recently a project related to IFRS 17. The project aims to design the implementation framework of this new standard as applicable to the insurance market in Lebanon, and decide on the financial reporting rules and requirements. The project will yield a number of outputs, namely:

• A reshaping of the present regulatory reporting forms,
• Guidelines for the methods to be utilized in the evaluation of relevant balance sheet and income statement items, and
• Guidelines on the required disclosures.

The ICC will soon publish its action plan in this respect, outlining the preliminary expectations from the sector.

The ICC, in coordination with the Central Bank, intends to establish an operational framework in line with the issuance, commercialization, and servicing practices of the insurance companies that deal with banks, while staying entirely in line with the prevailing regulations, keeping a strict focus on the consumers’ (policyholders’) rights and providing them with the best insurance services at the best possible conditions.