The industry recorded a profit of $1.41 billion for this period, a significant rise from the $938 million seen in the December quarter. The "insurance service result," a critical marker of underwriting performance, reported a profit of $1.43 billion, up from $861 million, while the incurred claims plummeted to $10.1 billion, down from $11.52 billion.
In the short-tail segment specifically dealing with household coverage, the picture, although still displaying losses, showed improvement. The insurance service loss shrank to $194 million for the March quarter, a considerable improvement from the previous $681 million loss.
Additionally, householders incurred claims decreased to $2.45 billion from $3.18 billion, and gross written premium saw a modest decline to $3.66 billion from $3.82 billion during the same timeframe.
This release marks APRA's inaugural set of "enhanced" quarterly statistics, following a suspension put in place last year to re-evaluate new accounting standards. This pause led to the implementation of the Australian Accounting Standards Board 17 Insurance Contracts, which advanced the insurers' reporting framework.
The insurance service result has emerged as a vital metric to evaluate performances in the new reports. KPMG insurance partner Scott Guse highlighted the improvement in the overall market profitability as revealed by these updated statistics.
In his evaluation, Guse pointed out that the significant household insurance service loss in the December quarter was primarily due to the Christmas storms that wreaked havoc across parts of Queensland and New South Wales. "It's encouraging to see improvement, especially with the increase in premiums starting to have an effect. We can anticipate a profitable outcome for the June quarter," Guse noted as reported by Insurance News Magazine.
Beyond household coverage, other short-tail property sectors also yielded noteworthy results. Collectively, these sectors reported an insurance service profit of $192 million, a sharp turn from the $605 million loss recorded in the December quarter. Specific gains included:
- Domestic motor insurance made a profit of $275 million, up from a $117 million profit in the previous quarter.
- Commercial motor insurance logged a profit of $61 million, reversing a $25 million loss.
- Fire and industrial special risk insurance recorded a $51 million profit compared to a $16 million loss previously.
The full APRA statistics offer deeper insights, with the industry recording $18.22 billion in insurance revenue and garnering investment returns of $1.36 billion.
Sourced from Insurance News Magazine, the narrative also unveils strategic advancements by RAA Insurance, helmed by Chief Tara Page, focusing on a reset post-2022 to bolster personnel and operational efficiency in South Australia’s personal lines insurance market.
