Partners Life IFRS 17 Programme

The Business Problem

The IFRS 17 global insurance accounting standard came into effect from January 2023 and required insurers to implement complex changes in actuarial and financial policy, technology, and operational processes, while also applying the standard retrospectively to rewrite their financial history as if IFRS 17 had always been in place. This was made more challenging due to Partners acquisition of the BNZ Life business, concurrently with being acquired by Dai-ichi Life, just before the new standard was coming into effect.

The Fix

A programme was initiated in September 2020, and a Steering Committee appointed consisting of a small number of executives, with the appropriate decision-making authority, who were invested in delivery of the programme outcomes. Luminate was able to provide a Programme Manager with the requisite experience delivering large, complex IT and Financial Services programmes, combined with financial accounting expertise. Luminate also provided an experienced Technical Business Analyst and Data Lead to manage the delivery of the Data Workstream.

The Outcome

After a three-year journey the Programme was closed in January 2024 having successfully implemented the necessary changes to systems, processes, and people, to meet the requirements of IFRS 17 and transition the strategic end-to-end IFRS 17 solution into Partners Life BAU Operations, delivering not just compliance but also transformation outcomes.

Lessons Learned

  1. Having a small, highly skilled, experienced and committed Steering Group, who had the authority to make decisions, was critical for a programme as technically complex as this one.
  2. Getting the right people in the delivery team (Service Providers, Vendors, and Permanent Staff), and the Steering Committee, with “the skill and the will’ to deliver under pressure was critical to success.
  3. A collaborative programme culture meant that all parties were fully invested in successful delivery of the programme outcomes.
  4. A well-defined programme delivery framework, that was regularly updated, provided a clear vision of the programme objectives, business impact, and delivery approach, along with success and measurement criteria. This clarity gave certainty and strategic rigour for the programme when inevitable challenges arose.

Customer Feedback

“Luminate seems to have an endless supply of specialists for whatever project you want to deliver.  I’ve delivered three very complex projects in the last two years and all three of those projects is esoteric.  And yet Luminate is able to source specialist in each of those three areas to deliver those projects.  I find that astounding!”

– Jaco Grobbelaar, Acting CFO, Partners Life