This instruction guide is designed to assist in the completion of the Statement of Premium Liabilities and provides general directions for preparation and lodgment and explanatory notes for specific items.
The purpose of this form is to provide information on premium liabilities by class of business, which supports the summarised underwriting result disclosed in GRF 310.0 Statement of Financial Performance (underwriting and profit and loss account). Specifically this form reports:
Premium liabilities by class of business (direct business and Reinsurance);
Total premium liabilities split between:
insurance business directly written (directly by the insurer and by inward reinsurance);
business received or written indirectly through underwriting pools or joint ventures; and
portfolio transfers to the accepting insurer;
Central estimate of premium liabilities gross of expected/deferred reinsurance and non reinsurance recoveries;
Risk margin for premium liabilities (in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers) gross of expected reinsurance and non reinsurance recoveries;
The component of premium liabilities that are classified as current liabilities for financial reporting purposes (must align with the aggregate disclosure in GRF 300.0 Statement of Financial Position).
The component of premium liabilities that are classified as non-current liabilities for financial reporting purposes (must align with the aggregate disclosure in GRF 300.0 Statement of Financial Position).
The value of the Premium Liabilities and the expected reinsurance recoveries that are included in this form must be measured in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers.
Audit requirements
The form relating to authorised insurance entities and reinsurance entities is required to be subject to audit review and testing. The forms relating to the consolidated insurance group reporting unit is not subject to audit review and testing.
The scope and nature of audit testing required is outlined in the applicable Audit Guidance Statement issued by the Auditing and Assurance Board of the Australian Accounting Research Foundation.
Information provided in the form in respect of a financial year of an insurer forms part of the insurer’s ‘yearly statutory accounts’ within the meaning of section 3 of the Insurance Act 1973. This means that:
Part Reporting Form GRF 210.1 - Financial Sector (Collection of Data) determination No. 16 of 2005 - Reporting Form GRF 210.1 | Zoe
the completed form for the financial year must be audited by the approved auditor of the insurer (see paragraph 49J(1)(a) of the Act);
the insurer must make such arrangements as to enable the auditor to do this (subsection 49J(2));
the auditor must give the insurer a certificate relating to the completed form (and other completed forms that are part of the insurer’s yearly statutory accounts), which must contain statements of the auditor’s opinion on the matters required by the prudential standards to be dealt with in the certificate (subsection 49J(3));
the certificate must be lodged with APRA as provided for in the prudential standards (paragraph 49L(1)(a)), namely by the due date for lodging the form in respect of the financial year for the insurer.
Reporting entities
This form is to be completed by:
Branch insurers of a foreign parent insurer (reference to licensed insurer in the form means total operations of the branch, excluding the parent operations);
Authorised insurance entities, including mutual entities (reference to licensed insurer in the form means total operations of the licensed entity);
Authorised reinsurance entities (reference to licensed insurer in the form means total operations of the licensed entity); and
Consolidated insurance groups.
For the purposes of APRA prudential reporting, the consolidated insurance group is interpreted as the accounts incorporating the highest parent entity in a group structure, that is an Australian authorised general insurance entity (for the purposes of the Insurance Act 1973), and includes all subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures (registered both in Australia and overseas) of that parent entity.
For the purposes of this form, the highest parent entity in the corporate group does not include a company (e.g. non-operating holding company) that is not an authorised general insurance entity.
Definition of subsidiaries should be consistent with the requirements of Australian accounting standards AASB 1024 ‘Consolidated Accounts’ and definition of associates should be consistent with AASB 1016 ‘Accounting for Investments in Associates’.
Exemptions from the Consolidated Insurance Group requirements
Australian authorised insurers which do not have any subsidiaries are not required to complete the forms for this reporting unit.
Australian authorised insurers which have subsidiaries, but the financial position of the consolidated insurance group is not materially different from that of the licensed insurance entity, are not required to complete the forms for this reporting unit (i.e. the subsidiaries do not have any material dealings/balances).
Definitions
Definitions for data reporting items required by this form have been provided where possible in the instructions under the section headed ‘Specific Instructions’. In addition, the ‘Glossary of Terms’ also contains a list of definitions of common data reporting items.
Unit of measurement
This form is to be prepared in thousands of Australian dollars (AUD). Amounts denominated in a currency other than Australian currency are to be converted to AUD in accordance with AASB 1012 ‘Foreign Currency Translation’.
The general requirements of AASB 1012 for translation are:
Foreign currency monetary items outstanding at the reporting date must be translated at the spot rate at the reporting date; and
Other items outstanding at the reporting date must not be retranslated subsequent to initial recognition of the transaction.
Monetary items are defined to mean money held and assets and liabilities that are to be received or paid in fixed or determinable amounts of money (e.g. claims payments, reinsurance recoveries).
Monetary items arising under foreign currency derivative contracts at the reporting date must be translated as follows:
Where the exchange rate is fixed in the contract, at that fixed exchange rate; and
Where the exchange rate varies, at the spot rate at the reporting date.
The general requirements of AASB 1012 for accounting treatment of exchange differences arising on translation are:
Exchange differences must be recognised as either revenues or expenses in the calculation of net profit or loss on GRF 310.3 Investment and Other Operating Income and Expense, in the reporting period in which the exchange rates change; and
Exchange differences arise in respect of foreign currency monetary items which is directly attributable to the acquisition, construction or production of an asset that takes a long period of time to get ready for its intended use or sale, must be capitalised (net of any effects of a hedge) as part of the cost of that asset.
Reporting period
Insurers are required to report the information in the reporting form on a quarterly and annual basis.
The quarterly information is to be completed in respect of each quarter based on the financial year of the insurer, not the calendar year.
The annual information is to be completed in respect of the financial year of the insurer.
The financial information requested in this form is to be reported as at the last day of the reporting period on a financial year to date basis of the insurer. See the Reporting Requirements table for details.
Reporting lag
This form must be lodged for each of the reporting units, within the number of business days after the end of the quarter as set out in the Reporting Requirements table.
Specific instructions
Classes of Insurance Business
Direct Business
The classes of business for companies that are not specialist reinsurers are as follows:
(I). Houseowners/Householders (H & H)
This class covers the common H & H policies inclusive of:
Contents;
Personal property;
Arson; and
Burglary.
Public liability normally attaching to these products are to be separated and included in Public and Product Liability class of business – item 8.
(II). Commercial Motor Vehicle
Motor vehicle insurance (including third party property damage) other than insurance covering vehicles defined below under Domestic Motor Vehicle. It includes long and medium haul trucks, cranes and special vehicles and policies covering fleets.
(III). Domestic Motor Vehicle
Motor vehicle insurance (including third party property damage) covering private use motor vehicles including utilities and lorries, motor cycles, private caravans, box and boat trailers and other vehicles not normally covered by business or commercial policies.
(IV). Travel
Insurance against losses associated with travel including loss of baggage and personal effects, losses on flight cancellations and overseas medical costs.
(V). Fire and Industrial Special Risks (ISR)
Fire
Includes all policies normally classified as 'Fire' and includes:
sprinkler leakage;
subsidence;
windstorm;
hailstone;
crop;
arson; and
loss of profits and any extraneous risk normally covered under fire policies, e.g. flood.
ISR
Standard policy wordings exist for this type of policy. All policies which contain such standard wordings or where the wording is substantially similar are to be classified as ISR.
(VI). Marine
Includes Marine Hull (including pleasure craft), Marine Cargo (including sea and inland transit insurance).
(VII). Aviation
Aviation (including aircraft hull and aircraft liability).
(VIII). Mortgage
Insurance against losses arising from the failure of debtors to meet financial obligations to creditors or under which payment of debts is guaranteed. It includes lease guarantee.
(IX). Consumer Credit (CCI)
Insurance to protect a consumer's ability to meet the loan repayments on personal loans and credit card finance in the event of death or loss of income due to injury, illness or unemployment.
(X). Other Accident
Includes the following types of insurance:
Miscellaneous accident (involving cash in transit, theft, loss of money);
All risks (baggage, sporting equipment, guns);
Engineering when not part of ISR or Fire policy;
Plate glass when not part of packaged policy (e.g. houseowners /householders)
Guarantee (Insurance Bonds);
Live Stock;
Pluvius; and
Sickness and Accident (which provides stated benefits where the insured is killed or suffers loss of specific parts of the body or is prevented from carrying out the insured’s normal occupation. In addition, regular benefits may be paid over a short period of time (typically less than 3 years), noting that continuous disability policies are now considered to be Life Insurance Policies and should not be provided by general insurance companies).
(XI). Other
All other insurance business not specifically mentioned elsewhere. It includes, for example:
All guarantees (e.g. fidelity Guarantee)
Trade Credit;
Extended Warranty (includes insurance by a third party for a period in excess of the manufacturer's or seller’s normal warranty;
Kidnap and Ransom; and
Contingency.
(XII). Compulsory Third Party Motor Vehicle (CTP)
This class consists only of CTP business.
(XIII). Public and Product Liability
Public Liability covers legal liability to the public in respect of bodily injury or property damage arising out of the operation of the insured's business. Product Liability includes policies that provide for compensation for loss and or injury caused by, or as a result of, the use of goods. and also environmental clean-up caused by pollution spills where not covered by Fire and ISR policies.
Also will include builders warranty insurance.
(XIV). Professional Indemnity (PI)
Includes Directors' and Officers' liability insurance plus legal expense insurance. Cover for legal expenses general included in this type of policy.
(XV). Employers' Liability (EL)
Includes:
Workers' compensation;
Seamen's compensation; and
Domestic workers compensation.
2. Reinsurance Business
The classes of business for companies that are specialist reinsurers are as follows:
(I). Facultative
(II). Proportional
(III). Excess of loss.
(I). Facultative Reinsurance.
The reinsurance of individual risks by offer and acceptance wherein the reinsurer has the “faculty” (option) to accept or reject each offer by the ceding company.
(II). Proportional Reinsurance.
A proportional treaty is an agreement between an insurer and a reinsurer in which the reinsurer shares an identical proportion of the premiums and losses of the ceding company.
(III). Excess of Loss Reinsurance.
Reinsurance which, subject to a specified limit, indemnifies the ceding company against the loss in excess of a specified retention. This type of reinsurance can involve:
any one risk reinsurance;
any one event reinsurance;
catastrophe reinsurance;
aggregate excess of loss reinsurance; and
stop loss reinsurance.
Reinsurance non-split
This line item classification disclosed under Reinsurance class of business is to be used where it is not possible for the insurer to separately slit out all the classes of reinsurance businesses. However as required by GGN 110.3 Insurance Risk Capital Charge, where an insurer writes inwards reinsurance business and is unable to split this business into the classes and types listed in Table 2 of that guidance note, they are to use the highest casualty factors on their outstanding claims liabilities.
Where an insurer writes inwards reinsurance which spans multiple classes and the insurer cannot readily split the contract between classes, APRA suggests that the contract should be allocated using one of the following methods:
(a) allocate the contract to the category which represents the greatest exposure; or
(b) allocate the contract to the category representing the greatest premium income.
An insurer that writes inwards reinsurance is free to choose which of the above methods it uses, or may use another appropriate method, provided the same method is used for all contracts and all subsequent periods.
Premium liabilities
Premium Liabilities relate to future claim payments arising from future events insured under existing policies. For short tail business, the Premium Liabilities are of greater significance. The valuation of Premium Liabilities must include an amount in respect of the internal expenses that the insurer expects to incur in administering the policies and settling the relevant claims. Premium Liabilities are to be determined on a fully prospective basis; both net and gross of expected reinsurance recoveries.
The valuation of Premium Liabilities for each class of business must comprise:
(a) a central estimate (refer below); and
(b) a risk margin (refer below) that relates to the inherent uncertainty in each of these central estimates.
To ensure that valuation processes are consistent and sufficiently rigorous across the industry, the risk margin should be established on a basis that is intended to secure the insurance liabilities of the reporting insurer at a given level of sufficiency. The prescribed level of sufficiency is 75 per cent.
Due to the highly skewed nature of some insurance distributions, the 75 per cent level of sufficiency may result in a value regarded as insufficient for prudent purposes. Therefore, the risk margin should not be less than one half of the coefficient of variation for the Premium Liabilities of the reporting insurer.
(a) The central estimate
The central estimate is intended to reflect the mean value in the range of possible values for the outcome (that is, the mean of the distribution of probabilistic outcomes). The determination of the central estimate should be based on assumptions as to future experience which reflect the experience and circumstances of the insurer and which are:
made using judgement and experience;
made having regard to reasonably available statistics and other information; and
neither deliberately overstate nor understate.
The central estimate will generally be measured as the present value of the future expected payments. This measurement process will involve prospective calculations and modelling techniques, taking into account all factors which are considered to be material to the calculation, including:
Discount rate (in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers);
Claims escalation;
Claims expenses; and
The pattern of claims run-off.
(b) The risk margin
The risk margin is to be valued in accordance with the requirements of GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers. The risk margin is a component of the value of Premium Liabilities that relates to the inherent uncertainty in the central estimate. The risk margin does not relate to the risk associated with the underlying assets, including asset-liability mismatch risk. As the risk margin is an additional component of the Premium Liabilities value, it is therefore aimed at ensuring that the value of the Premium Liabilities is established at an appropriate and sufficient level.
Levies charged to customers such as fire service levies, while included as revenue are expenses of the insurer rather than government charges directly upon those insured. The amount paid by the insurer to government authorities does not depend on the amounts collected from those insured in relation to the levies and charges. Accordingly these levies and charges are not to be included in the calculation of Premium Liabilities.
The insurer is free to provide for an amount of Premium Liabilities in GRF 300.0 Statement of Financial Position at a level equal to or greater than the amount required by GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers. However for the purposes of this form only, Premium Liabilities is to be measured and reported in accordance with prudential standard GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers and disclosed by type of insurance business (direct business and inward reinsurance business) i.e. must be at the 75% level. If Premium Liabilities is reported at a level greater than that required by GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers in this form, the insurer will be subjecting itself to a greater risk charge than required.
Note: any amount of the Premium Liabilities reported in GRF 300.0 Statement of Financial Position in excess of the amount required by GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers, can be added back to Tier 1 capital in GRF 120.0 Determination of Capital Base.
Quarterly actuarial reviews are not required to be conducted specifically for the purposes of completing this form.
Expected Reinsurance Recoveries
“Expected reinsurance recoveries” is a term used to describe the value of future liabilities that are recognised as “Premium Liabilities” (in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers), that are expected to be recovered under reinsurance contracts. Expected reinsurance recoveries is to be determined in accordance with the principles of GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers. The principles of this standard should be applied with similar robustness to the valuation of gross (of reinsurance) premium liabilities.
Where advice of an Approved Actuary is required in regard to the valuation of the premium liabilities, the Approved Actuary should also consider the estimation of the expected reinsurance recoveries on the premium liabilities recognised. Actuarial judgement should be used in the application of the principles of GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers in those circumstances.
Expected reinsurance recoveries does not include other forms of reinsurance assets or other form of non-reinsurance recoveries. Non reinsurance recoveries are amounts that may be recovered under arrangements other than reinsurance arrangements. These would include salvage, subrogation and sharing agreements.
Premium Liabilities – Gross of Expected Reinsurance Recoveries
Central Estimate
For each line of business, report the central estimate, gross of expected reinsurance recoveries, associated with the premium liability that is calculated in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers.
Risk Margin
For each line of business report the risk margin, gross of expected reinsurance recoveries that are associated with the premium liabilities that are calculated in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers.
Total Gross Premium Liabilities
Represents the total of the central estimate and risk margin. Do not enter a value as this is automatically calculated by the form.
Reinsurance Recoveries
For each line of business report the Expected Reinsurance Recoveries that are related to the premium liabilities that are recognised and calculated in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers.
Non Reinsurance Recoveries
For each line of business report the Expected Non Reinsurance Recoveries that are related to the premium liabilities that are recognised and calculated in accordance with GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers.
Total Premium Liabilities net of Expected Reinsurance Recoveries and Non-reinsurance Recoveries
The following calculates the Total Premium Liabilities net of Expected Reinsurance Recoveries and Non-reinsurance Recoveries:
Total Gross Premium Liabilities - Gross of Expected reinsurance and Non reinsurance recoveries; less
Expected Reinsurance Recoveries; less
Expected Non Reinsurance Recoveries.
Do not enter a value as this is automatically calculated by the form.
Premium Liabilities Gross of Expected Reinsurance Recoveries Classified as – Current Liabilities
For the total of Direct business and reinsurance business, report the component of the premium liabilities valuation that can be classified by the insurer as a current liability.
The total of this column (Current Liabilities) does not necessarily have to equate to the total of Premium Liabilities disclosed as a current liability in GRF 300.0 Statement of Financial Position. This will be the case (i.e. not equal) where the insurer as provided for Premium Liabilities in excess of that valuation required by GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers (the value which is required to be reported in this form).
Premium Liabilities Gross of Expected Reinsurance Recoveries Classified as – Non-current Liabilities
For the total of Direct business and Reinsurance business, report the component of the premium liabilities valuation that can be classified by the insurer as a non-current liability.
The total of this column (Non-Current Liabilities) does not necessarily have to equate to the total of Premium Liabilities disclosed as a non-current liability in GRF 300.0 Statement of Financial Position. This will be the case (i.e. not equal) where the insurer as provided for Premium Liabilities in excess of that valuation required by GPS 210 Liability Valuation of General Insurers (the value which is required to be reported in this form).