The latest
APRA quarterly statistics have been released and they make for mixed reading for the industry.
In the
Quarterly General Insurance Performance Statistics, APRA notes that net earned premium for the industry in the year ending 31 March 2015 is $31.8 billion, up 2.4 per cent from the previous year.
“The increase in net earned premium was primarily driven by the short-tail classes of business of domestic motor vehicle and houseowners/householders,” the report notes.
“Net earned premium for the domestic motor vehicle class of business in the year ended 31 March 2015 was $6.6 billion, up 3.1 per cent from the previous year ($6.4 billion). Net earned premium for the houseowners/householders class of business in the year ended 31 March 2015 was $5.6 billion, up 4.6 per cent from the previous year ($5.4 billion).”
Direct insurers account for $30.3 billion of the total whilst reinsurers pick up $1.4 billion.
Net incurred claims for the industry over the same period were $22 billion, up 19.7 per cent from last year’s $18.4 billion with the report highlighting several areas of expense, including the Brisbane hailstorms which struck in November.
“The increase in gross incurred claims for the industry was mainly due to increases in gross incurred claims for the classes of business of inwards reinsurance, CTP motor vehicle and houseowners/householders.
“For these two classes of business, the increase was mainly due to the effect of catastrophe events such as the November 2014 Brisbane hailstorm”
The increase in net incurred claims had an effect on industry underwriting profit which came in at $1.6 billion compared with $4.7 billion in the previous year, the report notes.
Total industry net profit after tax also saw a dip from $4.7 billion to $3.8 billion while total assets for the industry rose $4.7 billion to $116.3 billion.
