Transparency, comparability, consistency: three virtues for a market ravaged by the financial crisis and three advantages of a new system of financial reporting for the insurance industry. What's not to like?

Quite a lot, according to critics. Everybody outside the industry thinks insurance accounting is a swamp of acronyms and assumptions. An extra one - MCEV for "market consistent embedded value" - looks one too many. But it started as a well-meaning attempt to simplify the rules for European insurers, some of which have to account today for products that stay on their books for 25 or 30 years.