Frequently Asked Questions
Estimator 17 is an enterprise-grade IFRS 17 insurance contract measurement engine. It automates the complete measurement framework for insurance contracts — including fulfilment cash flows, risk adjustment, discounting, and Contractual Service Margin (CSM) calculations. It’s designed for insurers, reinsurers, and financial institutions that need to comply with IFRS 17 and produce audit-ready financial statements. The platform supports all three IFRS 17 measurement models: the General Measurement Model (GMM), the Variable Fee Approach (VFA), and the Premium Allocation Approach (PAA).
Not at all. While Estimator 17 is built with actuarial-grade precision — and was in fact built by actuaries for actuaries — it’s designed to be used by a wide range of professionals. Finance and reporting teams use it to generate IFRS 17-ready disclosures and integrate with general ledgers. Risk managers use it for stress testing and scenario analysis. And external auditors appreciate the transparent methodology and full validation artifacts. The platform handles the complex math behind the scenes so you can focus on the results, not the calculations.
IFRS 17 allows for three measurement approaches depending on your contract types:
- General Measurement Model (GMM)– also called the Building Block Approach. This is the default model for most long-duration insurance contracts. It measures liabilities using best-estimate fulfilment cash flows discounted at current rates, plus a risk adjustment, plus a CSM.
- Variable Fee Approach (VFA)– mandatory for contracts with direct participation features, such as unit-linked or with-profits policies. The CSM absorbs changes in the entity’s share of underlying item fair value, resulting in lower P&L volatility.
- Premium Allocation Approach (PAA)– a simplified model available for short-duration contracts with a coverage period of 12 months or less, or where the simplification doesn’t produce materially different results from GMM.
Estimator 17 supports all three, so you can use the right model for each portfolio.
The Contractual Service Margin (CSM) is the cornerstone of IFRS 17 profit recognition. It represents the unearned profit that an insurer will recognise over the coverage period as it provides services. Estimator 17 automates the complete CSM waterfall at each reporting date — opening balance, interest accretion at the locked-in discount rate, changes in fulfilment cash flows relating to future service, experience adjustments for current-period service, currency translation effects, and the release to profit or loss based on coverage units. For VFA contracts, the CSM additionally absorbs the entity’s share of changes in fair value of underlying items. Getting the CSM right is critical for accurate profit recognition, and Estimator 17 handles it all automatically.
Yes — they’re companion products from the same family. Estimator 9 handles Expected Credit Loss (ECL) calculations for IFRS 9 compliance (for banks and financial institutions). Estimator 17 handles insurance contract liability measurement for IFRS 17 compliance (for insurers). Both engines share the same underlying infrastructure — they consume the same yield curves, the same macroeconomic scenario library, and the same reconciliation control framework. If you’re an insurer that also has lending activities, or a bank with an insurance arm, you might need both.
Estimator 17 comes with a 14-day implementation guarantee for standard deployments. This is a dramatic improvement compared to the 12–24 months typically required with legacy vendors. The platform is cloud-native and designed for rapid deployment, with pre-configured templates and methodology defaults that align with regulatory expectations from day one.
Estimator 17 is built with auditability in mind. The platform has a proven track record — the organisation behind it has achieved over 200 Big 4 audit approvals with a 100% approval rate across 150+ financial institutions in 40+ countries. The platform auto-generates 30+ disclosure tables, reconciliation reports, sensitivity analyses, and board-ready actuarial reports. It also includes a comprehensive validation framework with experience studies, assumption testing, model validation reports, and regulatory compliance checks. In short, it’s designed to be audit-ready from day one. On top of this audit support service is part of FitForPurpose Offerings hence we support your teams and defend the reports against auditors.
Yes. IFRS 17 requires insurers to group contracts into annual cohorts and track each independently through its lifetime. Estimator 17 is built for this level of granularity. It handles cohort tracking, coverage unit allocation, and automatic amortisation patterns aligned with insurance service release. For risk adjustment, it supports multiple methodologies including Value-at-Risk (VaR), Conditional Tail Expectation (CTE), and cost-of-capital approaches, with portfolio aggregation and diversification benefits. Whether you have a simple portfolio or a complex multi-product book, the platform scales to meet your needs.
Yes. While Estimator 17 comes with pre-configured methodology defaults, it’s a flexible platform. You can customise yield curve construction, liquidity premium modelling, and bottom-up curve estimation for illiquid portfolios. You can define your own economic scenarios, assumption updates, and sensitivity analyses. The platform allows for customisation in areas like CSM amortisation patterns, risk adjustment methodologies, and cohort grouping rules. You’re not locked into a one-size-fits-all approach.
Estimator 17 includes comprehensive in-platform documentation, methodology guides, and validation reports. The platform’s transparency features let your team inspect every step of the CSM waterfall, risk adjustment calculation, and discounting engine — providing all the technical depth you need without requiring external documents.