Suncorp has announced that insurance net profit after tax has risen by $110 million, from $259 million in HY16 to $369 million this year.
Overall, group net profit after tax saw a rise of $7 million from last year with profit after tax on business lines boosted from $544 million to $613 million.
The 42.5% increase in NPAT in the insurance Australia division was down to top line growth, lower claims costs and disciplined expense management, the firm said in a statement to the ASX.
Gross Written Premium (GWP) grew by 6.2% thanks in large part to an increase in the CTP portfolio of the firm following their entrance into the CTP market in South Australia.
In the commercial market, strong competition saw GWP growth of just 0.4%.
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“Our turnaround program in claims is seeing some success, but there is clearly more to do,”
Michael Cameron, CEO and managing director of Suncorp, said of the results.
“In both Home and Motor, we have reduced the number of active claims to more normal levels. The underlying ITR has improved from 10.1% to 11%, and we are on track to achieve 12%.”
The Suncorp result included a natural hazard claims costs of $350 million, compared with $362 million last year.
Looking forward, the major insurer said that GWP growth, remediation of working claims and a focus on claims management should deliver improvements to the underlying ITR in the second half.
“We have achieved a lot, and the next 12 months will be about settling into a different way of working, and fully embedding the plan into the organisation to enable disciplined execution of our strategy,” Cameron continued.
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