Life offices show increased super focus
Superannuationmakes up 87 per cent of all life office assets and accounts for 88 per cent of new premiums as at December 2002, according to new statistics from theAustralian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
These figures depict an increased interest by life insurers on super, according to APRA, and has resulted in non-super or ordinary business accounting for only 12 per cent of premiums.
The statistics also show that single premium business now accounts for 78 per cent of life insurance premiums, with the majority being for super related products, and that approximately 30 per cent of all super assets were held in life insurance policies during the same period.
APRA head of statistics Paul Cullen says that life insurance ordinary business has been fairly stagnant over the past three years, with most growth occurring in super business.
Cullen says that this growth can be attributed to life offices taking their slice of compulsory superannuation contributions, and this would be expected to continue.
Life insurance companies operating in Australia for the year ended December 2002 received $36.7 billion in premium income, including both regular annual premiums and single premium business.
Forty life insurance companies were operating in Australia in this period, managing around $185 billion in assets.
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