The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its latest life insurance performance statistics covering the year to September 2022.
The report summarises the Australian life insurance industry's financial performance, financial position, capital adequacy, and key ratios.
For the year ended September 2022, APRA found that the Australian life insurance industry had an $8.3 billion revenue, a dramatic drop from $20.9 billion in the year ended September 2021. Meanwhile, the industry's net profit after tax for the year to September 2022 was $0.2 billion, another dramatic drop from the previous year ($1.4 billion).
Additionally, risk products returned an improved result for the year ended September 30, 2022, recording a profit of $977 million compared to the previous year's profit of $435.7 million – predominantly driven by a $1.1 billion profit recorded by individual disability income insurance. The increase in individual disability income insurance was attributed to repricing activities and reserve releases resulting from increases in bond yields over the past 12 months.
Individual lump sum reported a loss of $207.0 million, a decline in performance compared to the prior year. Meanwhile, group products returned improved results, with group lump sum recording a profit of $7.6 million and group disability income insurance recording a profit of $96.8 million.
Despite the significant difference between the revenues in the September 2022 and 2021 years, the Australian life insurance industry reported a positive quarter.
For the quarter ended September 2022, the Australian life insurance industry had a total revenue of $3.9 billion, a slight increase from $3.7 billion in the June 2022 quarter. Meanwhile, the industry's net profit after tax totalled $65 million in the September quarter, compared to -$157 million in the June quarter.
APRA also recently published its latest general insurance and private health insurance statistics.
