Group Seeks Greater Input on Accounting Standards

Saying the process to harmonize global accounting standards is too closed, an association representing life and property/casualty insurers and reinsurers is looking to have a greater say in the matter.

The Group of North American Insurance Enterprises (GNAIE) is asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to delay the creation of an International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation Monitoring Group (IASCF).

Specifically, GNAIE is looking to put the brakes on the approval of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which would help create the monitoring group tasked with guiding interactions between the national bodies formulating the new global standards.

The GNAIE letter charges that, as currently composed, the membership of the monitoring group is too narrow and tilted to accommodate the needs of investors, while slighting concerns about financial stability and systemic risk.

“An MOU agreement signed by the IASCF should be with a transparent, inclusive group structured and empowered to actually resolve the issues inherent in the need for public accountability,” Jerry de St. Paer, executive chairman of GNAIE said in a letter to SEC chair Mary Schapiro. “With the commitment of financial and securities regulators to increased transparency and accountability, the Monitoring Group should be an example of these principles, not a reversion to a closed process.”

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