Life insurance profits slump
The life insurance industry has taken a hit in the last 12 months, with net profit after tax down 13.9 per cent compared to the previous year, according to the latest Australian Prudential Regulation Authority quarterly life insurance statistics.
Net profit after tax for the 12 months to 30 June 2011 was $2.76 billion, compared to the previous year's profit of $3.21 billion. The June 2011 quarter net profit after tax was $696 million, representing a 9.7 per cent fall from the March 2011 quarter profit of $771 million.
Total revenue for the life insurance industry was $31.5 billion for the 12 months to 30 June 2011 - falling from the previous year's revenue of $33.8 billion.
Turning to the financial position of the industry, total assets were $235 billion as at 30 June 2011, representing a slight drop from the total asset position the year before of $237.1 billion. Total liabilities as at 30 June 2011 were $216.8 billion.
Breaking down the results into product groups, the net profit after tax for risk products over the last year was $271 million. Individual risk products made up $254 million of the figure, while group risk products contributed $17 million.
For annuity products, the net profit after tax for the last year was $142 million. Annuities with longevity risk contributed $26 million, and annuities without longevity risk contributed $117 million.
The total management capital requirement for the life insurance industry over the last 12 months was $3.1 billion. This was down 2.6 per cent on the figure from June 2010, when the capital requirement was $3.2 billion.
The total solvency requirement for the total statutory funds was $224.1 billion, and the total capital adequacy requirement for the statutory funds was $226.1 billion.
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