Insurer data upgrade
International financial reporting standards are created by international standard-setting boards. IFRS 17 is designed to enable better understanding of insurer’s exposure, profitability and financial position and to facilitate comparison across similar insurance companies. Updates to financial standards are infrequent — the new standard replaces IFRS 4, which came into effect from 1 January 2005.
The New Zealand standard, NZ IFRS 17, went into mandatory effect for insurers from the start of the financial year, commencing on or after 1 January 2023. We issued the Interim Solvency Standard 2023 on 20 September 2022 and it is consistent with NZ IFRS 17. It went into mandatory effect for insurers from the date specified in each insurer’s modified licence conditions (intended to be the same date as the start of NZ IFRS 17).
Current QIR and AIR templates and definitions
On 16 April 2025, we finalised and published the new templates and definitions for Annual Insurer Report (AIR) and Quarterly Insurer Report (QIR). The templates and definitions will be updated from time to time. Each material change will have a new version number and we will specify the applicable version for each Report Date. It is the insurer’s responsibility to download and use the appropriate template version for each set of reporting to the Reserve Bank. Immaterial changes (for example, changes to the list of insurer names) will keep the same version number but will have a new release number.
The current version is version 1.8, which was published on 4 March 2026.
Insurance data quality review
We are reviewing the quality of data submitted through the AIR and QIR. The review is focused on improving data reliability and supporting accurate market‑wide analysis.
Common questions and answers about the review
Templates
The updated versions must be used for Report Dates on or after 1 March 2026.
The changes in version 1.8 are:
- In financial accounts sheet, investment assets table; added instruction that NZ resident or non-resident is based on look-through to underlying assets.
- In solvency RBNZ sheet, adjustments to insurance items section; added measurement model used for standardised liabilities for insurance & reinsurance remaining coverage - drop-down and required comments.
- In solvency RBNZ sheet additional checks on target capital and calculation of target capital expressed as % of PCR is changed to be % of adjusted PCR to improve quality of reporting target capital figures.
- In solvency RBNZ sheet, tax section; correct sign issue in total allowances for tax in adjustments to capital and risk charges.
- In solvency RBNZ projection sheet, amend label for capital movements included/excluded from financial forecast to clarify and improve quality of reporting these figures.
- In solvency RBNZ projection sheet, for overseas life insurers bring through actual solvency figures from the statutory fund (instead of entire insurer).
- Some minor changes to support RBNZ processing.
The version of QIR and AIR templates and definitions required to be used depends on report date and balance date, as follows:
| Report dates | Balance dates | Version of AIR & QIR | Version of definitions |
| On or after 01-Mar-26 | All | 1.8 AIR (XLSX, 6MB) QIR (XLSX, 5MB) |
1.6 (PDF, 316KB) |
| 01-Mar-25 to 28-Feb-26 | All | 1.7 AIR (XLSX, 6MB) QIR (XLSX, 5MB) |
1.6 (PDF, 316KB) |
| 30-Jun-24 to 28-Feb-25 | All | 1.5 AIR (XLSX, 6 MB) QIR (XLSX, 4.4 MB) |
1.5 (PDF, 307 KB) |
| 01-Sep-23 to 29-Jun-24 | All | 1.4 AIR (XLSX, 6 MB) QIR (XLSX, 4.3 MB) |
1.4 (PDF, 306 KB) |
| 01-Jul-23 to 31-Aug-23 | 31-May, 30-Jun, 31-Aug, 30-Sep |
1.4 AIR (XLSX, 6 MB) QIR (XLSX, 4.3 MB) |
1.4 (PDF, 306 KB) |
| 01-Jul-23 to 31-Aug-23 | 31-Dec, 20-Feb, 31-Mar |
1.3 AIR (XLSX, 5.3 MB) QIR (XLSX, 3.8 MB) |
1.0 (PDF, 664 KB) |
| 01-May-23 to 30-Jun-23 | 31-May, 30-Jun, 31-Aug, 30-Sep |
1.4 AIR (XLSX, 6 MB) QIR (XLSX, 4.3 MB) |
1.4 (PDF, 306 KB) |
| 01-May-23 to 30-Jun-23 | 31-Mar | 1.3 AIR (XLSX, 5.3 MB) QIR (XLSX, 3.8 MB) |
1.0 (PDF, 664 KB) |
| 01-May-23 to 30-Jun-23 | 31-Dec, 20-Feb |
1.2 AIR (XLSX, 5.1 MB) QIR (XLSX, 3.7 MB) |
1.0 (PDF, 664 KB) |
| 31-Mar-23 to 30-Apr-23 | 31-Mar, 31-May, 30-Jun, 31-Aug, 30-Sep |
1.3 AIR (XLSX, 5.3 MB) QIR (XLSX, 3.8 MB) |
1.0 (PDF, 664 KB) |
| 31-Mar-23 to 30-Apr-23 | 31-Dec, 20-Feb | 1.2 AIR (XLSX, 5.1 MB) QIR (XLSX, 3.7 MB) |
1.0 (PDF, 664 KB) |
| 31-Dec-22 to 30-Mar-23 | All | 1.2 AIR (XLSX, 5.1 MB) QIR (XLSX, 3.7 MB) |
1.0 (PDF, 664 KB) |
Note: Versions 1.0, 1.1 and 1.6 of AIR and QIR were superseded by later versions, and should not be used for any reporting.
Not all balance dates will have reporting for all report dates due to the phased implementation of reporting under QIR and AIR.
Questions
If you identify errors in the templates and definitions or have any questions, please email [email protected] and copy your insurance supervisor.