The problems besetting Australian risk insurers have again been laid bare in the latest statistics released by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) for the September quarter, revealing a 26.5 per cent decline in net profit after tax during the quarter compared to the same time last year.
Importantly however, the September quarter net profit represented a 12.8 per cent improvement on the June quarter, reflecting the manner in which insurance companies have been seeking to adjust to adverse circumstances.
The APRA data pointed to the group risk segment as being most problematic for insurers, with net profit after tax being just $1 million and with individual risk products contributing $152 million while group risk products contributed negative $152 million.
However while the data suggested problems were persisting for insurers, it also revealed solid revenue growth, with total revenue of $46.7 billion compared with the previous year’s revenue of $38.8 billion.
It said the September 2013 quarter revenue was $15.4 billion compared with the June 2013 quarter revenue of $7.7 billion and the September 2012 quarter revenue of $13.8 billion.
