Australia general insurance industry Q1 profits soars to $920m

This reflects the impact of premium increases across business classes.

Australia’s general insurance industry’s first quarter 2022 profits grew by 16.7% to $920m (A$1.3b), the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s report said.

The industry reported a return on net assets of 4.3%t during the year ended 31 March 2022, an increase compared to the prior year. The increase in net profit was driven by a stronger underwriting result, in part reflecting the impact of premium increases across certain classes of business. 

Gross incurred claims costs were also higher as a result of the New South Wales and southeast Queensland floods. The industry recorded an investment loss of $668.86m, driven by unrealised losses on interest-bearing investments due to a sharp increase in bond yields during the March quarter.

The industry PCA coverage ratio increased slightly in the year ended 31 March 2022 to 1.71x, up from the ratio of 1.69x reported for the same period last year.

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