The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released the latest figures for Australia’s general and life insurance industries, revealing general insurance profits but investment losses.
For FY22, the Australian general insurance industry reported a net profit after tax of $2.3 billion and a return on assets of 7.2%.
The latest changes were driven by stronger underwriting results, partly offset by significant investment losses. The improvement in the Australian general insurance industry’s underwriting results was driven by an increase in gross earned premiums across all classes of business, according to the report.
The report said: “Gross claims expenses also increased and were attributed to higher claims costs arising from catastrophe events throughout the year, most notably, the NSW and SEQ flooding event in the March quarter.”
During the same period, the Australian general insurance industry recorded total investment losses of $1.7 billion, driven by unrealised losses on interest-bearing investments due to bond yield increases throughout 2022.
The latest data on Australia’s general insurance statistics for Q4 2022 can be found in APRA’s Quarterly General Insurance Statistics report. The report provides industry aggregate summaries of financial performance, financial position, capital adequacy, and key ratios. It includes detailed statistics at a class-of-business level, a breakdown of operating income and expenses, and more granular solvency information.
Meanwhile, the APRA Quarterly General Insurance Institutional-level Statistics report includes individual insurer information about financial performance, financial position, capital adequacy, and key ratios.
APRA’s Quarterly Life Insurance Performance Statistics report provides industry aggregate summaries of financial performance, financial position, capital adequacy, and key ratios. It covers FY22 and Q4 2022.
For FY22, Australia’s life insurance industry reported a $9.6 billion total revenue, a 50.7% change from $19.5 billion in the year ended December 2021 (FY21).
For Q4 2022, the Australian life insurance industry reported a $6.1 billion total revenue, up 65.5% from $3.7 billion in the December 2021 quarter (Q4 2021).
