Suncorp looks to life via general and direct insurance
Suncorp has joined the growing list of insurers confronted by adverse life/risk experience, with a 76.1 per cent decline in net profit after tax by Suncorp Life dragging on the company’s overall full-year result.
However, the company is looking to the sale of life via its direct and general insurance channels as a strategy to address some of its problems.
The company announced a 32.2 per cent decline in group net profit after tax to $491 million, which its chairman Ziggy Switkowski described as “solid”.
However in dealing with the performance of Suncorp Life over the 12-month period, the company’s release to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) referenced a result which had been “significantly impacted by increased discount rates”.
“The underlying profit after tax was $120 million down on the prior year due to negative experience against lapse and claims assumptions,” it said.
In other results, the company said disability claims experience had been negative $20 million and lapse experience was negative $26 million.
However, the announcement said that reported life individual risk new business sales were up 14.2 per cent to $121 million and sales of life through general insurance were up 16 per cent, reinforcing the strategy to concentrate on growing that channel.
AUTHOR
Staff Writer
Recommended for you
In this new episode of The Manager Mix, host Laura Dew speaks to Nick Paul, institutional portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management to delve into everything small and mid-cap equities.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew chats with Kellie Wood, head of fixed income and deputy head of fixed income and multi-asset at Schroders Australia, to discuss why fixed income is returning to favour after a 12-year wait.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Laura Dew speaks with Michael Hunstad, deputy chief investment officer and chief investment officer of global equities at Northern Trust Asset Management, to debunk myths around index investing.
In this episode of Relative Return, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic chats with Robin Tsui, APAC gold strategist at State Street Global Advisors, to discuss gold’s role as a diversifier in portfolios.
