Australia’s general insurance industry operations suffered an underwriting loss of more than $1.5 billion during the 2008-09 financial year, according to a KPMG insurance survey.
The underwriting surplus for the domestic operations of the Australian general insurance industry, worth $938 million in 2008, was reduced to a loss of $609 million by the end of the 2008 financial year, due to a rise in insurance claims as a result of severe weather events. Insurance profits fell by 12.5 per cent to $2.16 billion during the same period.
Severe weather events are estimated to have cost the industry $1.7 billion during the year.
While gross written premiums rose by 6.4 per cent to $22 billion, total global profits for Australia’s insurance companies dipped to $3.19 billion, down from the 2007-08 financial year profit of $3.2 billion. The total underwriting surplus for Australia’s global insurance companies fell 76 per cent to $463 million as insurers experienced high claim costs from severe natural events and a fall in interest rates.
